The trap of thin Apple and Samsung phones

BarcelonaSamsung's Galaxy S25 Edge and Apple's iPhone Air boast the title of being the thinnest mainstream phones on the market today, and on paper they look like it: 5.8 millimeters for the former and 5.6 for the latter. However, these numbers are tricky, as they only count the main body and ignore the camera bumps that protrude from the back. Add these bumps together, and the Samsung measures 10.0 mm in total (5.8 + 4.2 mm for cameras) and the iPhone 11.3 (5.6 + 5.7 mm), both thicker than many mainstream phones. But who cares about reality when you have a catchy slogan?

It must be said that the handfeel is very pleasant; even I, as a smaller phone person, found these two relatively thick-screened devices comfortable. Partly because, thanks to the reduced thickness and the use of titanium in the casing, they're lighter than you'd expect with this screen size: 163 and 165 grams, respectively. However, I don't know if anyone is complaining about their phone being too thick.

Having clarified the relativity of the attribute of the two phones that their manufacturers most highlight, we can move on to comparing their features and performance. Let's recognize that doing so is as futile as assuming that an iPhone user will switch to Android or vice versa. This won't happen: ecosystems are technological religions, and converts are rare. But it's worth doing the exercise so that each side knows what they're giving up for loyalty to their operating system.

The Galaxy S25 Edge has a 6.7-inch AMOLED display with a density of 515 pixels per inch (ppi). The iPhone Air has a 6.5-inch OLED XDR with 460 ppi. Both have variable refresh rate up to 120 Hz to balance fluidity and consumption, offering the function always where which allows you to see the time with the screen off. The Samsung unlocks with an ultrasonic fingerprint reader integrated into the screen; it also has 2D facial recognition, but it's nowhere near the excellent 3D FaceID found on iPhones.

In terms of connectivity, the Galaxy combines a physical SIM card and an eSIM, while the iPhone Air forgoes the former and keeps only the latter, making it incompatible with some local operators. In return, it offers emergency messages via satellite, which the Samsung chip would allow but is disabled.

Both incorporate the latest high-end, 3-nanometer processors: a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite with eight cores in the S25 Edge and an A19 Pro with six cores in the iPhone Air. Samsung equips 12 gigabytes (GB) of RAM, while Apple makes do with 8 GB; In both cases, these are necessary to power the artificial intelligence functions: Galaxy AI and Apple Intelligence, which are nonexistent in the Catalan language. Both devices are sold with 256 or 512 GB of storage.

Both phones show very similar performance in the tests I've performed. If anything, perhaps the iPhone Air runs a little less hot than the Samsung in the most demanding gaming applications.

Cameras

The Galaxy S25 Edge is the first high-end Samsung in years without a telephoto lens: a 200-megapixel main camera (the same as the S25 Ultra) and a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens. The front camera is 10 megapixels. The iPhone Air goes even further in minimalism: a single 48-megapixel rear camera. No ultra-wide-angle, no telephoto lens, nothing. However, aware that we live in a world of selfies Where the front camera ends up being the most important, Apple has used: 18 mpx and automatic framing.

In practice, the S25 Edge takes slightly better photos than the iPhone Air, but despite recording in 8K resolution, its videos fall slightly behind the 4K of the Apple phone.

One aspect worth highlighting is the sound: the iPhone Air settles for a single speaker, the earpiece, while the S25 Edge has two, and therefore offers stereo sound. When watching videos, the difference in favor of the Samsung is noticeable, and a lot. In addition, Samsung allows audiometry to be performed to adjust the sound to the user's hearing ability and the quality of their headphones.

Closed ecosystems

The S25 Edge runs One UI 8, Samsung's version of Android 16. It's more open, flexible, and promises six years of updates. It includes the DeX feature to connect it to a PC's screen, keyboard, and mouse. The iPhone Air uses the new iOS 26, with seven years of updates: it integrates perfectly with other Apple devices, although this is relatively important when two out of three iPhone users here don't have a Mac computer or any intention of getting one. In other countries, iOS 26 offers the iPhone Mirroring feature, equivalent to Samsung's DeX, but it's not available in the EU because Apple doesn't want to give in to Brussels' demands. Naturally, there's no thought of using Samsung's DeX with a Mac: it only works with Windows. Technological religions don't tolerate apostasy.

Autonomy: An Unexpected Surprise

With 3,900 mAh in the Galaxy and 3,149 mAh in the iPhone, we expected disaster. Yes, they have less battery life than their regular siblings, but the loss is less than expected thanks to the efficiency of the Snapdragon 8 Elite and A19 Pro processors. In real-world tests, both perform like a normal compact phone. In absolute terms, they aren't brilliant, but they're not a disaster either. If we compare them, they last practically the same when browsing the web, the iPhone 28% longer when watching videos (fewer speakers, lower consumption), and the Samsung 29% better when playing games.

Charging speeds vary: wired, the Samsung's 25 watts allow it to fully charge in 65 minutes, half an hour less than the iPhone's 20 W. Wirelessly, on the other hand, it's the latter that takes a little less time. In both cases, we must applaud the technological milestone of including the wireless charging coil inside such thin casings.

Prices

The Galaxy S25 Edge costs €1,179 on sale; the iPhone Air, €1,219 (both in the 256 GB versions). You pay up to €200 extra for a few millimeters less: literally, more money for less battery and cameras. The 6.7-inch Galaxy S25+ costs €1,099, and the 6.2-inch S25 (both with telephoto lenses) costs €901. The basic iPhone 17 (with two cameras) starts at €959. The commercial logic is fascinating.

The true cost of being thin

These phones have managed to be thin (with trickery) at the cost of reduced battery life and photography features. They're the technological equivalent of a designer handbag that can't hold anything: very pretty, but not very practical.

The iPhone has a more refined design with a shiny, rounded titanium frame, allows you to call for help via satellite, and, of course, it's an iPhone. Samsung has more cameras, sounds much better, and supports a physical SIM. Meanwhile, the AI functions still don't speak Catalan. Perhaps we should demand that innovation be more linguistically inclusive. But this doesn't look so good in ads.