Iphone air outsells 16 plus 2:1 in asia, buries galaxy s25 edge in speed tests

Apple’s bet to kill the Plus and birth the air is already paying off: Ookla samples show the 6.5 mm iPhone air clocked more than double the Speedtest traffic of the iPhone 16 Plus in Q4 2025, with Seoul and Tokyo users racing past 500 Mbps while Taipei barely registered.

The numbers that cook won’t tweet

Speedtest is not sales, but it is the largest open tap on real-world usage. In South Korea the air grabbed 11.4 % of all iPhone 17-series tests; Japan hit 10.1 %. Those figures trounce the 16 Plus’ 4.2 % and 3.8 % in the same markets a year earlier. Taiwan, Malaysia and Poland flipped the script: the Air limped to 2–3 %, proof that razor-thin charisma fades when local tariffs bite.

Stateside, the Air settled at 6.8 % of iPhone 17 traffic, up from the 16 Plus’ 2.9 % slice in Q4 2024. Not spectacular, yet enough to shove the baseline iPhone 17 down to fifth place in Ookla’s chart—an indignity for what every analyst already tags as 2026’s volume seller. The Pro Max remains untouched; the Pro, however, shed three points, cannibalised by its own thinner sibling.

Samsung’s edge never left the kerb

Samsung’s 5.9 mm Galaxy S25 Edge? It shows up in less than one Speedtest per thousand in Europe and trails the Air 3:1 in the US. Insiders say the S26 line has no Edge variant locked, and suppliers have yet to receive RFQs for an S27 Edge. Apple’s experiment is turning into a template; Samsung’s is already a footnote.

Apple will not release hard unit data, but when network packets are the only public ledger, a 134 % jump in sample share is the closest thing to a standing ovation. The Air is no niche vanity project—it is the new mid-tier gravity well. Expect the 18 Air to shave another 0.2 mm and gain a periscope lens; expect the Plus to stay dead.