iPhone Air is dramatically outselling Samsung’s thin phone, and even Apple’s retired Plus model

My favorite modern iPhone was the iPhone 13 Mini. It solved the battery woes of the iPhone 12 Mini while keeping the same one-handed form factor. However, the phone didn’t generate enough sales, and Apple killed and replaced it with a Plus model. 

Even the Plus model failed to capture the public’s attention, and Apple quietly sunsetted it last year, replacing it with the sleeker, slimmer iPhone Air. Earlier reports suggested that the iPhone Air was not selling well and seemed like another failure. However, new data from Ookla’s Speedtest Intelligence suggests that those reports might be exaggerated.

The iPhone Air captured a 6.8% share of the US market in Q4 2025. That might not sound like a lot, but consider this: the iPhone 16 Plus, the model it replaced, only managed a 2.9% share during its launch window. Apple more than doubled the performance of that roster slot.

Did the Air steal sales from the Pro models?

This is the question every Apple analyst was asking, and the answer is mostly no. The iPhone 17 Pro Max held 55.5% of the market, nearly identical to the 56.3% its predecessor captured. The ultra-premium crowd isn’t going anywhere.

What the Air did pull was buyers from the standard Pro model, which dropped from 34.9% to 30.6%. So, about 4% of users chose a slimmer design over a better camera and a larger battery. That’s a trade-off a meaningful share of people, including me, were happy to make.

How did Samsung’s thin phone do in comparison?

If you follow smartphone news cycle, you know that Samsung wanted to steal iPhone Air’s limelight by releasing its own slim phone. However, the reports suggest that the move might have backfired. 

In the U.S., the iPhone Air outsells the S25 Edge by a three-to-one margin, accounting for 6.8% versus 2.4%. In markets like the U.K. and Germany, the S25 Edge barely registers, with less than 1% market share.

The data confirms what Apple likely suspected. People didn’t want a bigger or smaller iPhone; they wanted a cooler one.