Now that Samsung has gone through with two thin phone releases, it sets up Apple for a big reveal this fall with the iPhone 17 Air. Personally, I haven’t been wowed by either the Galaxy S25 Edge and Galaxy Z Fold 7 — despite their super-thin designs.
All the iPhone 17 Air rumors swirling around give us a good idea of what to expect come September when Apple normally announces its new iPhone lineup, but there are lessons the company could learn from Samsung’s journey. Whether the new Apple device ends up being called the iPhone 17 Air or iPhone 17 Slim, I just hope Apple can avoid the pitfalls that Samsung made with its thin phone releases.
Naturally, designing any phone to be extraordinarily thinner than anything else out there is an engineering challenge of its own — but convincing people to get that device is a totally different matter. Here’s what Apple needs to do with the iPhone 17 Air to become a best phone contender.
Don’t skimp on the cameras
This one I’m not confident about because you have to remember that designing and finalizing a design could happen months to a year in advance, which makes sense given how companies need to line up suppliers and manufacturing partners right after that. So far, the rumors indicate that Apple’s going the single camera route as it did with the iPhone 16e.
Meaning, the iPhone 17 Air is expected to come with a single 48MP camera on the back of the phone. Such a camera could double as a zoom lens through the pixel binning techniques Apple’s known for. But still, a single shooter would mean less utility compared to the dual-camera setup in the Galaxy S25 Edge.
At this point I doubt we’ll see an ultrawide shooter on the iPhone 17 Air to complement the main one, but I would hope that the new phone gets the same main camera as the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max — down to the sensor size and the aperture of the lens.
Faster charging speed
As I’ve pointed out in my Galaxy S25 Edge review, the biggest compromise in designing a thinner phone is that battery life is shortened. The Galaxy S25 Edge lasted less than 12.5 hours on our battery drain test — a better-than-average result but nothing spectacular — and I’m not confident that the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is going to put up a longer run time than the previous Z Fold 6.
What’s shocking is that the rumors hint at a 2,800 mAh battery for the iPhone 17 Air. That’s a substantial dip compared to the 3,900 mAh battery in the Galaxy S25 Edge, so unless Apple somehow managed to over-optimize its A19 chip, I really doubt it’s going to even last as long as the iPhone 16e, another phone that did all right on our test but didn't come close to the best phone battery life.
Apple needs to do the one thing that Samsung failed at doing with its two thin phone releases, which is to boost its charging speed. Neither the Galaxy S25 Edge or Galaxy Z Fold 7 got an increase, so Apple needs to offset its smaller battery capacity by giving the iPhone 17 Air a much faster charging speed. I’m hoping for a 30W charging speed at the very least, but it would be even better if Apple could somehow push it to 45W.
Pricing makes all the difference
I understand that battery life is always going to be a compromise for any thin phone, but what Apple needs to avoid is repeating Samsung’s misstep in pricing its thin phones. The logical (and smart) thing Apple could do is to simply make the iPhone 17 Air as close to the same price as its previous Plus models.
I think having a price of $799 would be doubtful for the iPhone 17 Air, but other sources hint that it could be as low as $899. The Galaxy S25 Edge at $1,099 is simply overpriced in my opinion, especially when you consider how $200 separates it from the Galaxy S25 Ultra. In contrast, Apple could be shooting itself in the foot if it ends up making the Air more expensive than the current iPhone 16 Pro Max, which costs $1,199.
Regardless, Apple needs to carefully assess the iPhone 17 Air’s pricing if it wants to avoid Samsung’s misstep. With presumably a smaller battery and only a single rear camera, trying to convince people the iPhone 17 Air should cost more than the Pro models would guarantee an untimely death.
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