Last updated: March 24th, 2026 at 17:12 UTC+01:00
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Even in South Korea.
Reading time: 2 minutes
Abhijeet Mishra / SamMobile
Both Apple and Samsung tested the market's appetite for super slim flagship phones last year with the iPhone Air and the Galaxy S25 Edge, respectively. Samsung released its contender a few months before Apple did.
Since then, both have decided that there isn't as much interest as previously thought, so successors of these devices may not arrive in 2026. The trend from those who did buy these phones last year suggests a preference in favor of the iPhone Air.
Ookla, the entity behind the popular Speedtest website, has shared some interesting data based on Speedtest samples. It shows a comparison of the percentage of devices that used its service in Q4 2025.
The iPhone Air had an 11.2% share in South Korean, Samsung's back yard, while the Galaxy S25 Edge came in second place with 8.7%. The difference was more pronounced in other markets, with the iPhone Air having a 3-to-1 lead in the US at 6.8% vs 2.4%. The Galaxy S25 Edge had minimal penetration below 1% in markets like the United Kingdom and South Korea.
The numbers show that in all of these markets, there were fewer Galaxy S25 Edge devices using the service compared to iPhone Air, which may suggest that Apple ended up selling more units of its slim phone compared to Samsung, even in the latter's home country.
Granted, the data isn't very nuanced, but it does highlight how Apple's captive customer base and premium positioning likely helped the iPhone Air, even if the Galaxy S25 Edge was objectively the better device.
Adnan Farooqui is a long-term writer at SamMobile. Based in Pakistan, his interests include technology, finance, Swiss watches and Formula 1. His tendency to write long posts betrays his inclination to being a man of few words.
