New iPhone 17 Air price rumor could tempt buyers away from the Samsung Galaxy S25 Slim

6 days ago 3

The iPhone 16 Plus (Image credit: Future)

The iPhone 17 Air will reportedly cost less than the iPhone 17 Pro
It will also apparently be "ultrathin" and have "major design" changes
However, you'll likely be waiting longer for it than the Samsung Galaxy S25 Slim, which is reportedly landing in the second quarter of 2025

If you’re desperate for a new slim smartphone then you might want to consider the Samsung Galaxy S25 Slim, which we've long assumed will be arriving sooner than the iPhone 17 Air. Indeed, we now have an even clearer idea of when Samsung's new svelte model might arrive, though the latest price rumor regarding Apple's super slim equivalent could make it the phone to wait for.

According to a report in ET News (via @Jukanlosreve), the Samsung Galaxy S25 Slim will launch sometime in the second quarter of 2025 (so between April and June). This makes sense, as while a previous leak suggested the S25 Slim could launch alongside the rest of the Samsung Galaxy S25 series in January, we’d expect to have heard more about it by now if that was the case.

So, there’s still probably a little bit of time to wait for the Galaxy S25 Slim – which, according to this report, will have a 6.66-inch screen, making it likely similar in size to the Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus.

But while it probably won’t land as soon as we’d hoped, it should still land much sooner than the iPhone 17 Air, which is expected to launch in September alongside the rest of the iPhone 17 series. Mind you, the rumored price of Apple's super slim handset could give you pause for thought.

The Air could undercut the Pro

Apple’s handset could be well worth the wait, as according to a paywalled report in The Wall Street Journal (via MacRumors), the iPhone 17 Air will cost less than the Pro models, which in the case of the iPhone 16 Pro line start at $999 / £999 / AU$1,799.

So, if this report is right, then the iPhone 17 Air will probably cost less than $999 / £999 / AU$1,799 (though it’s possible, of course, that the iPhone 17 Pro will cost more than the iPhone 16 Pro).

That makes some sense since the iPhone 17 Air is reportedly taking the place of a new Plus model, so it could slot in at the iPhone 16 Plus’ $899 / £899 / AU$1,599 price point. But given that this report also describes the iPhone 17 Air as boasting an “ultrathin” build and “major design” changes, it's always possible that it could cost more, and indeed some early leaks pointed to a high price.

This latest report is therefore reassuring if you were hoping that the iPhone 17 Air would be an affordable proposition – though for the device to be both much slimmer and also cheaper than Pro models it’s inevitable that there will be some compromises. Indeed, this report adds that the camera system has been “simplified.”

Whether the iPhone 17 Air will be cheaper than the Samsung Galaxy S25 Slim is also unclear, but with reports that Samsung’s phone could be equipped with an ‘Ultra’ camera, it’s certainly possible that the iPhone 17 Air will undercut it.

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James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.

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