The trade-offs of the iPhone Air are minimal compared to the core experience.
Welcome to Android Faithful. Now we're going to talk about Apple. Apple, the main competitor to the Android ecosystem and arguably the reason Google forced us through the Jimmy Fallon of it all, announced the new iPhone 17 lineup. It features the solidly priced iPhone 17 series, complete with a dual-lens camera system plus the supercharged iPhone 17 Pro, which boasts an upgraded A19 Pro processor that promises more than 40% performance improvement over its predecessor and up to 8x optical zoom.
Apple also introduced the iPhone 17 Air, or iPhone Air, which, and I'm being purely anecdotal about this, is currently the primary focus of the fanfare. As I'm writing this, most of the hands-on I see trending are for the iPhone Air. I've already seen a handful of journalists and analysts go "wow" over the aesthetic of the platform camera on the back and the light-as-a-feather build of the device.
As you can imagine, the iPhone Air is extremely thin; at 5.6mm, it's even thinner than the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge's 5.8mm. And even though the battery and camera specs are effectively truncated, the core iPhone experience remains, which is probably why it will sell better than the Galaxy S25 Edge attempted this year.
Like the Edge, the iPhone 17 Air compromises with its camera and battery capabilities, though Apple already has a marketing story to counter prospective complaints. The iPhone Air features a single 48-MP primary camera compared to the dual- and triple-lens systems of its sibling devices. However, it has a 2x telephoto reach. The battery life is also nothing to worry about, according to Apple, thanks to new high-density battery technology that extends the iPhone 17 Air's battery life to 27 hours of continuous video playback. And unlike the Galaxy S25 Edge, there's Qi2 wireless charging and compatibility with MagSafe accessories.
Overall, the iPhone 17 Air is a more appealing option. It's for enthusiasts willing to purchase and wield a statement piece. It's not for a power user, but rather for someone who would have bought a new iPhone anyway and has been complaining the regular version is too thick for eons. It's precisely the kind of companion device you'd want for your MacBook Air and iPad Air.
Samsung's Galaxy S25 Edge did not sell well because it didn't stay true to its core. The Galaxy S25 Edge was more like a Samsung Lite device. It featured a 200-MP sensor on the back, but lacked telephoto capabilities like the rest of the lineup. The battery was a much smaller pack compared to the S25 Ultra, and there was no wireless charging to seal the deal. It was released months after the flagship debut, and as interest declined, so did manufacturing, which contributed to the fact that only a million units made their way into people's hands worldwide. That's a pittance compared to the more than 22 million Galaxy S25 units that have already sold throughout the year.
Apple is much more tempered in its approach, and it's because it didn't launch a device to be "first!!!!" to market. It kept a keen eye on the little things that are often overlooked in favor of a thinner design. I don't see the iPhone 17 Air getting the same kind of eye-roll treatment that Samsung's Galaxy S25 Edge did. Whether it sells well will depend entirely on how it performs in the real world, inside people's pockets, and beyond.
For now, you can definitely bet that thin is in and here to stay. Hopefully, Samsung's next attempt at a rail-thin flagship will reconsider the "core" experience so that it's not such a trade-off from its other models.
