After using the Galaxy S25 Edge, I’m really worried about the iPhone Air

When I handed in my review of the Galaxy S25 Edge with a less-than-stellar score, I hoped that would be it. I wanted the ultra-thin trend to end before it started, even though I knew that wouldn’t happen. There’s not enough room for, well, anything to exist within the confines of a 5mm phone.

And yet, here we are, with a shiny iPhone Air hot off the presses, making what I think are all the same mistakes that Samsung made. Maybe Apple’s top-to-bottom optimization will prove me wrong, but I’ll be disappointed if the iPhone Air starts falling into familiar traps. Here’s why I’m worried — and why you should be too.

Alright, the one thing I thought would initially worry me about the rise of ultra-thin phones, durability, is not that big of a deal. When I first started using the Galaxy S25 Edge, I expected it to bend or flex or otherwise warp over time, like a few generations of iPad Pro had done. It hasn’t done so, not even a little bit.

In hindsight, I hadn’t considered that the phone-sized body simply has less room to flex. The reason those iPads bent and buckled in the way that they did is that they had so much space within their frames, allowing for more force on one side or the other. My Galaxy S25 Edge? All it has had to do is survive life in my pocket. And, because it’s been summertime, I’ve been wearing looser pockets that keep the pressure off.

I would expect the iPhone Air to hold up in the same way. It sports a Grade 5 titanium frame, so I imagine it will offer similar rigidity to its closest rival. Besides, both phones are IP68 certified against water and dust, so any slips or falls at the beach should be just fine — I hope. At least, I hope that’s enough peace of mind, as I’m worried Apple’s new camera peninsula might make the iPhone Air just top-heavy enough that it’ll want to slip out of my pocket if I’m sitting on the beach.

Perhaps the one thing Apple has going for it ahead of Samsung is that its iPhone Air has a smaller display. That’s not something I’d always root for, but I think a smaller display means less room for damage, especially while getting used to a 5.6mm frame with barely there buttons.

And then, there’s the real worry: Battery life. You knew it was coming — a thin frame means a thin battery and limited space for cooling technology. Once again, I have to hope that Apple’s excellent optimization means the iPhone Air will pull some magic out of, well, thin air, but I’m not sure. Apple has already stated that its Air should achieve just three hours less than the standard iPhone 17, but I’m worried that number will stretch over time.

Once again, my expectations come from the Galaxy S25 Edge, which means they come from our objective testing. We put Samsung’s super-thin flagship through the same standardized testing as the rest of its Galaxy S25 lineup, and we found that it came up short — very short. Its tiny 3,900mAh battery fell behind the smallest Galaxy S25, and never really made up ground. Well, it lasted the longest in snapping photos, but that’s only one small part of a balanced day.

Maybe the iPhone Air will be fine at first — most phones are. It’ll probably make it through a day, or even just past a day, like Apple claims. However, as the software updates roll in, it’ll probably slow down. I updated my iPhone 16 to the iOS 26 public beta, and it’s done a number on my battery life, so I’d be more than willing to guess the same could happen to an iPhone Air. If nothing else, it’s a good enough reason not to tap into Apple’s beta program.

Last but certainly not least, there’s the cameras — er, camera. Despite what Apple will tell you, the iPhone Air only has one camera on the front and one on the back. Ignore whatever math tells you that it has four sensors, somehow counting every focal length as a different camera. That’s not how that works. The iPhone Air has one 48MP wide camera capable of a central crop to create a 2x zoom, and that’s it.

Now, this is where I get to look at the Galaxy S25 Edge and Apple’s own iPhone 16e and declare that one camera just isn’t enough. It will probably be fine for a lot of your shots, especially if you stick to wider scenes,  but I wouldn’t expect the primary sensor to zoom beyond maybe 8x or 10x. It won’t offer an ultrawide field of view, leaving you with limited flexibility, and there’s a chance it won’t support portrait mode for pets. That’s where the single-lens iPhone 16e fell short, and I haven’t seen anything to suggest the iPhone Air will somehow right that wrong.

Unfortunately for Apple, the Galaxy S25 Edge ships with two rear cameras, and it still left me disappointed. Yes, using 200MP for a 1x or 2x zoom shot is great — there’s detail everywhere you look — but even that comes up short once you punch all the way in. The Edge still topped out at 10x zoom and counted on a mix of digital processing to get there. Cut the number of megapixels in half, and I’m not sure how Apple can work its magic, especially with Apple Intelligence still lagging.

Who knows, maybe I’ll be wrong. Maybe Apple will stretch its tiny battery (around 3,200mAh) for miles. Maybe it’ll work the same camera magic from its iPhone 17 Pro into just one sensor.

I’ll be genuinely impressed if it does, but I’m not holding my breath. Samsung couldn’t do it, but at least it gave the Galaxy S25 Edge a better chance.