If you’ve been watching the smartphone space for a long time, you’ll know that the way manufacturers are chasing thin bezels these days is how they were chasing slim phones back then. The thickness of a device was a major marketing point, especially when an OEM was able to trim quite a lot off compared to competition.
At a point, things got thin enough and there was no need to aim for razor-thin smartphones. However, it seems that Apple and Samsung think its time to chase slimness again, and if the Galaxy S25 Slim’s leaked thickness is real, it will be the slimmest Android flagship in a decade.
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Slim Is Likely To Have A Thickness In The 6mm Range
We’ve been hearing a few rumblings about a fourth S series model for this year, and a recent leaked graphic for Samsung’s Unpacked event next month seemed to hint at that as well. There’s little mystery, as word on the street is that model will be the Galaxy S25 Slim, a phone which—you guessed it—prioritizes being slim.
In a world where the Samsung Galaxy S24 is 7.6mm thick, which we already consider to thin enough, how thin does a “Slim” model have to get? According to Ice Universe on Weibo, that number starts with a 6. The established leaker says that the thickness “may be 6.x mm”. Reading between the lines, that means two things: nothing is confirmed yet; and it could be as thick as 6.9mm (which is still thin, to be fair).
Keep in mind that a phone this slim is going to have to make some compromises in certain spec departments, which is likely why Samsung didn’t choose to adopt this build for the entire lineup. The battery, most notably, will see a cutback if the brand doesn’t switch to silicon-based cells. The camera might not be compromised though, as a previous leak mentions an “Ultra” camera coming for the Slim model.
However, It Likely Won’t Be Thinner Than The Rumored iPhone 17 Air
As cool as it is that Samsung is going to be releasing a Slim model this year, it is hardly alone in that regard, as its primary competitor, Apple, is also going to be going for its own take on a thin phone in 2025.
The iPhone 17 Air has been rumored, and it will likely be less of a shock to Apple fans when it eventually launches since Apple’s “Air” tag for thin devices has been around for a long time now. That device is rumored to be just 6mm thick, which is ridiculous.
It’s Been A Long While Since The Last Sub-7mm Flagship Android Phone
Flagship phones with sub-7mm thickness are not a new concept. We’ve seen them before, but if you can’t remember them, that’s fine. By the time that the S25 launches, it would have been an entire decade after all.
I might be wrong, but I did my research, and the last time a flagship smartphone was released with a thickness equal to or less than 6.9mm was in 2015. In fact, there were three devices that satisfied that criteria in that year. One was Samsung’s own Galaxy S6, another was the Huawei P8 (6.4mm!), and the last was the Sony Xperia Z3+.
As long as the compromises aren’t excessive, I can’t say I’d hate to see the return of thin smartphones. If foldables can fit fantastic cameras and screens into 4.4mm profiles, I’d say the Galaxy S25 Slim can too.
