Why the iPhone Air succeeded where the Galaxy S25 Edge didn’t

The Galaxy S25 Edge - quickly forgotten?

It has now been 6 months since Samsung released the Galaxy S25 Edge officially. Remember that member of the S25 family? Yeah, me neither.

In all seriousness, the Galaxy S25 Edge was a curious novelty, and it had at least a bit of hype behind it, because Samsung managed to successfully tease it months before its release.

Then, it came out, it got its reviews, it was bought by curious and adventurous consumers, Samsung fans, and superusers, and now… it’s just kind of there, in the back of our minds.

That’s not to say that it’s a dreadful device. There are plenty that are still happy with it. Some users returned it because they didn’t feel like it was worth the $1,100-$1,200 asking price.

All the while, the iPhone Air is still generating buzz.

To be clear - none of these phones is selling well

According to analyst reports, the Galaxy S25 Edge sold about 1.3 million units within the first three months of being launched. That sounds like a lot, but was apparently way too low of a number, and Samsung has already decided to scrap any plans on a Galaxy S26 Edge. Well, maybe not entirely — it's a real "Will they, won't they?" type of situation right now.

The amount of iPhone Air units Apple has shipped is still not known, but reports already stated that the company cut down on Air production by 10%. Other insiders said that Apple always expected the Air to be a niche device and not sell a ton, but still — a slow-down order being issued does show that Cupertino expected to sell a little bit more.

Still, why does the iPhone Air appear to be doing better?

I asked this question to a few people. The answer was always the same: “Well, because it’s an iPhone…”, accompanied by a shrug and a smirk.

While I technically agree, it’s barely a satisfactory answer. So, let’s dig in — what makes the iPhone Air appear as a more desirable or “better” choice if you are out for a thin phone.

It is actually thinner

If you are going to be making a super-thin phone, better bring your A-game. While the Galaxy S25 Edge is slim… pretty slim, actually, it still doesn’t look strikingly thinner than an S25 Plus, for example.

The iPhone Air is .16 mm thinner, which doesn’t sound like much in paper. But combined with its finely beveled frame, it appears even slimmer than it is and looks striking, even when compared to the S25 Edge.

The right time to release iOS 26

The entire Liquid Glass overhaul wasn’t timed by coincidence, I don’t think. iOS 26, with its glass elements, just looks lovely on an all-screen, super-thin iPhone Air. It almost invokes the feeling of these sci-fi “communication devices” that we’ve seen in movies since the early 2000s, where the entire phone is just a pane of clear glass.

Meanwhile, One UI on the Galaxy S25 phones looks all the same. With barely translucent, solid-ish textures, thick color, and more utilitarian interface. Not saying that it’s bad, but it doesn’t invoke a sense of novelty or wonder, which I think is important when deciding on a new phone to buy. If a fresh shopper is looking at both of these phones in the store and experiencing them for the first time, the iPhone Air has the potential to steal the show 9 times out of 10.

Fashion brand positioning

Apple has positioned itself as a fashion / premium style brand for years now. Therefore, when it launched a new super-thin iPhone, people in the tech-as-accessories space took notice.

Not saying that Samsung isn’t premium, but it has positioned itself as a different type of brand — the hyper-tech type. Every Samsung flagship has to be packed to the brim with more cameras, a stylus, more features, better display, et cetera et cetera.

When Apple announced the iPhone Air, a huge part of its userbase reacted with “Oh, exciting”. When Samsung announced the super-thin Galaxy S25 Edge, a huge part of its dedicated fanbase reacted with “But what about the battery life?”

Samsung is fighting the wrong battle here

Even when trying to produce a super-slim, fashion statement kind of phone, Samsung just couldn’t stay out of its own way. The Galaxy S25 Edge has more than the iPhone Air — that’s a fact. It has one more camera, it retains the stereo speaker setup, it has a bigger battery. So what?

Any tech geek will tell you that the Galaxy S25 Edge is superior in specs and on paper. But, if you are making a super-thin phone that cuts down on things in order to deliver a slim and stylish accessory, the tech crowd is not who you are trying to sell to.

Apple cut the iPhone Air down to the bare essentials. One camera — pretty good, not amazing. One speaker — surprisingly OK, definitely not great. And that’s it.

The rest is a lovely screen backed by an A18 Pro processor to ensure that this beautiful iOS 26 interface is running smoothly. Minus one GPU, but who cares? Not the crowd that wants the iPhone Air, that’s who!

So, as previously stated, Samsung is probably not going to make another thin Edge-type device. If they do, however, I think they should really go for it — get in there and slim it down until it actually appeals to the person that would want to buy that type of device. Not the tech superfans — they have the Galaxy S26 Plus and Galaxy S26 Ultra for that!