As sales of Samsung Electronics and Apple's "ultra-slim phones" have been sluggish, their depreciation rates in the used-phone market have also turned out to be higher than those of other new models. Ultra-slim phones are light and thin, but consumers are turning away because the price is high for the specifications.
◇ Galaxy S25 Edge drops to half price in five months after launch
According to the used-phone price comparison site SellCell on the 24th, Apple's iPhone Air (256 gigabytes) with a "good" grade is being bought at a minimum price of $486 (699,000 won). The iPhone Air's U.S. launch price is $999 (1,437,000 won). The depreciation rate reached 51% one month after launch. The iPhone Air's depreciation rate was higher than that of the iPhone 17 and the premium iPhone 17 Pro Max, which were released simultaneously in September. The two models, with launch prices of $799 (1,149,000 won) and $1,199 (1,724,000 won), have depreciation rates of 46% and 44%, respectively.
The situation is the same for Samsung Electronics' ultra-slim Galaxy S25 Edge. With a U.S. launch price of $1,099 (1,581,000 won), the Galaxy S25 Edge has depreciated 62% and is being bought at a minimum price of $410 (589,000 won). The Galaxy S25 Edge was released at the end of May, but in less than half a year it has posted a depreciation rate of more than 60%. Even compared with the used price of the Galaxy S25, which was released in early February about four months earlier than the Galaxy S25 Edge, the depreciation is large. The Galaxy S25 Edge's depreciation rate is 7 percentage points (P) lower than the depreciation rate of the base Galaxy S25 model and the same as that of the premium Galaxy S25 Ultra.
◇ Lower specs but higher prices… rumors of the iPhone Air being "discontinued"
Samsung Electronics and Apple rolled out ultra-slim phones one after another this year, but the market reaction has been cold. According to market research firm Counterpoint Research, in the U.S. and China smartphone markets, the iPhone Air accounted for only 3% of sales during the first 10 days of the iPhone 17 series launch. The same was true for Samsung Electronics' ultra-slim Galaxy S25 Edge. According to Hana Securities, sales in the first month after the Galaxy S25 Edge launch are estimated to have reached only 190,000 units. That is weak compared with the Galaxy S25 (1.17 million units), S25+ (840,000 units), and S25 Ultra (2.55 million units).
This trend is continuing in the used-phone market. In the used-phone market, listings that are popular face inventory shortages, so their depreciation rates are low. But the iPhone Air and the Galaxy S25 Edge are showing depreciation rates that are lower than or similar to those of new products released at the same time or those that came out earlier.
Experts cite the "high price relative to specifications" as the reason ultra-slim phones are being shunned by the market. They sacrificed specifications for "thin thickness," but the prices are high. The iPhone Air is 5.6 mm thick, the thinnest iPhone ever, but its battery capacity has been reduced and it has only one rear camera. The Galaxy S25 Edge is also assessed to have weaker battery performance than its predecessor, and the telephoto lens among the rear cameras is missing.
However, the prices of ultra-slim phones are not much different from premium models. In Korea, the iPhone Air's launch price starts at 1.59 million won, which is 200,000 won cheaper than the iPhone 17 Pro (1.79 million won). The Galaxy S25 Edge's launch price is also 1,496,000 won, a 200,000 won difference from the Galaxy S25 Ultra (1,698,400 won).
The iPhone Air is reportedly on track to be discontinued in less than a year after launch. Ming-Chi Kuo of TF International Securities, an Apple-focused analyst, recently noted in a report that "Apple's partners are highly likely to cut iPhone Air production by more than 80% through the first quarter of next year."
Kuo said, "As iPhone Air sales fall short of initial expectations, production and shipment adjustments are underway across the supply chain."