In the smartphone market, the ultra-thin design is becoming a new trend for manufacturers to seek differentiation. Apple’s iPhone 17 Air and Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge both feature “extreme thinness” as their selling point, attracting widespread attention. So, which of these ultra-thin flagships is superior?
🔵Design Breakthrough: The Trade-offs Behind Thinness
-The iPhone 17 Air has a body thickness of only 5.5mm, making it the thinnest model in Apple’s history. To achieve this, Apple has made several design adjustments. In terms of the camera, only a 48MP main camera is retained at the back, and the ultra-wide-angle lens is removed, with optical 2x zoom achieved through algorithms. In terms of structure, the bottom speaker and physical SIM card slot have been removed, with only the top earpiece speaker remaining. For the battery, silicon-based high-density battery technology is used, with a capacity that may exceed 3000mAh, and combined with the low power consumption of the A19 chip, the battery life is expected to exceed expectations.
-The Samsung S25 Edge achieves thinness through materials and screen technology. It uses a titanium alloy frame, which is stronger than aluminum alloy but 15% lighter, thus supporting a body thickness of 5.84mm. In terms of the screen, it is equipped with a 6.6-inch 2K OLED screen with a resolution of 2560×1440, which is better than the 1080P screen of the S25/S25+ in the same series, achieving a good balance between display quality and power consumption. In terms of camera configuration, it retains a 200MP main camera (the same as the S25 Ultra) and a 12MP ultra-wide-angle camera, without sacrificing basic imaging performance due to the thin body.
🔵Performance and Experience: The “Hidden Cost” of Thin Bodies
Although both are equipped with flagship chips (the iPhone 17 Air with the A19 and the Samsung S25 Edge with the Snapdragon 8 Ultra), the ultra-thin design limits their heat dissipation capabilities. The Geekbench score of the Samsung S25 Edge shows a single-core score of 2969 and a multi-core score of 9486, which is close to the performance of regular flagship models, but it may throttle under sustained load due to thermal control strategies. The iPhone 17 Air, with its removal of the bottom speaker, may have compromised external sound quality, and its single-camera configuration also reduces the flexibility of multi-focal length shooting.
🔵Market Positioning: Differentiated Competition in the High-End Niche Market
The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be priced similarly to the Pro series, targeting the fashion and luxury crowd, and is expected to replace the underperforming Plus models. The Samsung S25 Edge, on the other hand, uses “full-function thinness” as its selling point, retaining high-end configurations such as the 2K screen and titanium alloy frame, aiming to attract users who pursue high performance and portability.
🔵Industry Insight: Can Ultra-Thin Become the New Trend?
In 2025, the smartphone market is facing an innovation bottleneck, and ultra-thin design has become a breakthrough for manufacturers seeking differentiation. However, this path faces three major challenges: technical barriers, user acceptance, and cost pressure. Balancing battery life, heat dissipation, and structural strength requires breaking through material and process limitations; the simplification of functions may reduce practicality, such as the iPhone 17 Air’s removal of the ultra-wide-angle lens; the use of new materials like titanium alloy and silicon batteries has increased prices, testing the market’s premium-paying ability.
The battle between the iPhone 17 Air and the Samsung S25 Edge is not only a competition of technical strength but also a forward-looking exploration of user needs. If the two can prove that “ultra-thin ≠ compromise,” they may lead a new round of design trends in the industry. However, their real experience still needs to be verified after the launch, especially the core indicators such as battery life and heat dissipation, which may determine the success or failure of this revolution.