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I put the iPhone Air vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge through a 7-round face-off — here’s the winner

AnyFans 2025-09-26

By Mark Spoonauer

I put the iPhone Air vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge through a 7-round face-off — here's the winner

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However, outdoors I found that the iPhone Air’s display was significantly brighter than the Galaxy S25 Edge. In addition, the panel suffered from less glare when watching the trailer for “The Mandalorian & Grogu.”
Indoors, the iPhone Air outshined the S25 Edge once again when I played the teaser for “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” although the colors looked more vibrant through the Samsung.
Winner: iPhone Air
iPhone Air vs Galaxy S25 Edge: Cameras and Video

(Image credit: Future)
The Galaxy S25 Edge has a distinct camera advantage by offering both a 200MP main camera and a 12MP ultrawide lens. That means that only the Samsung can take ultrawide photos, as well as macro shots. The iPhone Air sports a single 48MP wide camera, though it offers 2x optical quality zoom just like the Galaxy S25 Edge.
Both the iPhone Air and Galaxy S25 Edge are limited to a max of 10x digital zoom.
So how good are the photos? I started with this 2x photo of pink Ivy Geraniums. I prefer the iPhone’s shot because the colors are more natural looking and they’re oversaturated through the Samsung. However, you can make out more detail in the petals through the S25 Edge’s shot.
Next I turned the two cameras on the Bryant Park fountain, and the iPhone Air surprised me with a much more detailed shot. This is especially true when you zoom in on the stonework and the water. However, I give the S25 Edge credit for better exposing the area underneath the top of the fountain.
This photo of peppers between the iPhone Air vs Galaxy S25 Edge is no contest. Samsung’s pic has a haze over it and the red peppers look like a blobby mess. The iPhone Air’s shot is sharper with more realistic colors.
The iPhone Air delivers a brighter looking portrait of me here at 2x, but I prefer the detail in the Galaxy S25 Edge’s shot, especially in my shirt and hair.
This round is a tough call as the pumpkins look more vibrant through the S25 Edge, but they also lack dimension and contrast compared to the iPhone Air due to its lower contrast. And you can more easily make out the lines in the pumpkins with the Air.
So what about zoom? At 2x I prefer the iPhone Air’s image of this statue. You get a brighter looking shot (despite a yellow cast) and more detail when you zoom in. But at 10x Samsung pulls away; the iPhone Air’s image looks fuzzy.
I shot these Halloween decorations in almost complete darkness to test out the low-light performance of both thin phones, and the iPhone Air wins by a mile. You can make out the skull and text on the books much more easily.
I shot a selfie with the iPhone Air’s 18MP Center Stage camera and the Galaxy S25 Edge’s 12MP front camera, and I’m torn. I like the punchier colors from Samsung and how my face looks but Apple more accurately captures the sunlight.
Overall, the iPhone Air offers better image quality on balance, but you can’t ignore the fact that the Galaxy S25 Edge gives you more shooting options with the ultrawide lens.
Winner: Draw
iPhone Air vs Galaxy S25 Edge: Video
The iPhone Air can capture 4K video at up to 60 fps in Dolby Vision, and the Galaxy S25 Edge can record up to 8K footage at 30 fps. Both phones also let you record using the front and back cameras at the same time.
I tested out both thin phones by shooting 4K footage at 30 fps.

iPhone Air: Video sample – YouTube

I shot this vertical video side-by-side in 4K at 30fps of a fish pond, and the footage looks fairly crisp and colorful. As I zoom in, though, the video from the S25 Edge looks even better.

Galaxy S25 Edge: Video sample – YouTube

The iPhone Air performed better with its front Center Stage camera when I tested out its stabilization while running up a hill. The footage looked a lot shakier through the S25 Edge.

iPhone Air: Front camera video (Center Stage) – YouTube

Galaxy S25 Edge: Front camera video – YouTube

I also tested both the iPhone Air vs Galaxy S25 Edge shooting video of the Bryant Park fountain.

iPhone Air sample video – YouTube

Galaxy S25 Edge sample video – YouTube

As I zoom in I prefer the results from the iPhone Air as the water and stone relief look sharper. However, it’s hard to beat the versatility of the S25 Edge, as it gives you the ability to pan further out to take ultrawide footage.
Winner: iPhone Air
iPhone Air vs Galaxy S25 Edge: Performance

(Image credit: Tom’s Guide)
The iPhone Air and Galaxy S25 Edge are both pretty powerful phones given their slim designs, with the Air packing a A19 Pro chip (with one less GPU core than the iPhone 17 Pro). And the Galaxy S25 Edge is powered by a Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy. And you get 12GB of RAM for both phones.

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iPhone Air vs Galaxy S25 Edge: Benchmarks

Row 0 – Cell 0

Adobe Premiere Rush

3DMark Solar Bay Unlimited

3,723 / 9,665

29.5 fps / 7,764

Galaxy S25 Edge

3,129 / 9,916

39.26 fps / 10,343
In our benchmark testing we saw the iPhone Air deliver a better single-core result in Geekbench but the Galaxy S25 Edge turned in a higher multi-core score. We also timed how long it took to transcode a video from 4K to 1080p in Adobe Premiere Rush, and the iPhone Air was a good 30 seconds faster.

(Image credit: Tom’s Guide / John Velasco)
However, the Galaxy S25 Edge pulled ahead in the 3DMark Solar Bay Unlimited Graphics test. It reached a frame rate of 39 fps, which is about 10 points higher than the iPhone Air.

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Sustained Performance Test

Row 0 – Cell 0

Stability Score (20 mins)

Stability Score (40 mins)

Average temperature (40 mins)

Galaxy S25 Edge

To evaluate sustained performance, we ran the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme stress test on both phones, which lasts about 20 minutes. And the iPhone Air turned in much better stability scores in each run, though the Galaxy S25 Edge was slightly cooler based on our measurements.
Winner: iPhone Air
iPhone Air vs Galaxy S25 Edge: Battery life and charging

(Image credit: Tom’s Guide)
This round is pretty much neck and neck with the iPhone Air lasted just over 12 hours on the Tom’s Guide Battery Test, which involves continuous web surfing at 150 nits of screen brightness. The S25 Edge was right behind at 11:48.

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iPhone Air Battery Life

Row 0 – Cell 0

Web surfing

iPhone Air with MagSafe Battery

Galaxy S25 Edge

If you feel like spending an extra $99 — and carrying around the extra bulk — you can attach a MagSafe Battery to the iPhone Air and get over 5 additional hours of runtime. It’s worth noting that the S25 Edge doesn’t have the magnets necessary for Qi2 charging; you’d need to buy a case to gain that functionality.

(Image credit: Tom’s Guide / John Velasco)
I also ran a video rundown test of Wi-Fi using YouTube, and the iPhone Air was down to 81% after 5 hours, compared to 67% for the S25 Edge.
In terms of wired charging speed, the iPhone Air reached 55% in 30 minutes. The Galaxy S25 Edge got to 54% in the same amount of time.
Winner: iPhone Air
iPhone Air vs Galaxy S25 Edge: Software and AI

(Image credit: Tom’s Guide)
The iPhone Air runs iOS 26, which brings a slick Liquid Glass design and several new features to the table. Some of my favorites include Hold Assist and Call Screening in the phone app, as well as the ability to add backgrounds and polls to Messages.
Apple Intelligence still has a long away to go, but Visual Intelligence gets a boost with a handy screenshot feature that lets you look up info on Google for whatever’s on your screen (similar to Circle to Search) and to ping ChatGPT for more info.
Samsung’s phone runs One UI 7 right now and One UI 8 is on the way. Two of the most notable One UI 7 features include the Now Bar (think Dynamic Island notifications and live activities) and Now Brief, an AI generated summary for your day.

(Image credit: Future)
The Galaxy S25 Edge goes much further with AI features. Cross-app actions, for example, lets you perform actions across multiple apps using your voice. There’s also Generative Edit for powerful photo editing features, Audio Eraser for videos (though Apple does have Audio Mix).
Plus, Gemini Live is just a way, way better AI assistant right now than Siri. You can ask questions in real time about whatever is in front of your camera or what’s on your screen and have a back-and-forth convo.

(Image credit: Future)
And the Galaxy S25 Edge is just better at multitasking with the ability to run two apps at once on screen and to turn your phone into a desktop with DeX. One UI 8 will bring enhancements to split screen mode, DeX and Quick Share (Samsung’s answer to AirDrop).
Winner: Galaxy S25 Edge
iPhone Air vs Galaxy S25 Edge: Verdict

(Image credit: Future)
The iPhone Air narrowly beats the Galaxy S25 Edge in this face-off for a few reasons. You get a thinner and sleeker design, better camera quality and slightly better performance and battery life for $100 less. It also helps that the iPhone Air supports MagSafe; the S25 Edge needs a special case to do Qi2 magnetic charging.

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Row 0 – Cell 0

Galaxy S25 Edge

Design (20 points)

Display (10 points)

Cameras (15 points)

Video (10 points)

Performance (15 points)

Battery Life (20 points)

Software and AI (10 points)

However, the Galaxy S25 Edge wins when it comes to camera versatility with its ultra wide lens. And you get much more compelling AI features from Samsung along with slightly better graphics performance.
If it were my money I’d go with the iPhone Air, but Android fans will be plenty happy with the Galaxy S25 Edge.
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Mark Spoonauer

Mark Spoonauer is the global editor in chief of Tom’s Guide and has covered technology for over 20 years. In addition to overseeing the direction of Tom’s Guide, Mark specializes in covering all things mobile, having reviewed dozens of smartphones and other gadgets. He has spoken at key industry events and appears regularly on TV to discuss the latest trends, including Cheddar, Fox Business and other outlets. Mark was previously editor in chief of Laptop Mag, and his work has appeared in Wired, Popular Science and Inc. Follow him on Twitter at @mspoonauer.

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