In the middle of the crowd of humanoid robots, concepts of cars and futuristic demonstrations at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, dozens of people swarmed around a particular stand. From a distance, it seems that it is one of the many stands with another range of smartphones. But a glance more closely reveals what everyone is impatiently tried to get their hands: a remarkably slim phone different from everything I have ever seen.
According to the company, a handset was displayed 5.75 mm thick (leaner than a standard pencil) and weighing only 146 grams. After waiting for about 15 minutes for my turn, I pick up the coveted phone and I am instantly surprised. It is light as a feather and yet does not look like something that I can break in half. I do my own visual thickness test by pulling a pen from my backpack and comparing it: the thin spark is, in fact, especially thinner.
Tecno is not the only company that seems to believe that Slim is. A few rooms, Samsung displays his Edge Galaxy S25, which remains just out of reach behind a barricade, surrounded by a similar crowd of eager spectators. The details on this phone, specifications on the release date, are just as thin as its appearance. But the reports suggest that we will see this year.
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Oppo, too, launched the N5 discovery, which he calls the “thinner style foldable book in the world”, measuring only 8.93 mm thick when closed and 4.21 mm thick when open. The size and shape fled to me when I tested it and I helped soothe some of my reserves on the practical appearance and the volume of other foldable. And perhaps one of the biggest rumors leading to the expected exit from the iPhone 17 range is a potential version of the iPhone “Air”, a thinner (and probably lighter) version of the Apple handset.
The Tecno Spark Slim concept is thinner than a pencil. It was super light in my hand.
But a thinner phone, while a cool flex, can cause drawbacks. Less space often means a smaller battery, and therefore a shorter battery life. Camera equipment can also be reduced to scale, leading to lower image quality. The storage space can also take a hit. These are all major concessions for telephone buyers, who always classify the battery life, the quality of the camera and the storage space among their main priorities.
The push of the limits can be disastrous, as Samsung learned it when he chose to eliminate the design of the Galaxy Note 7, only so that the devices start to smoke and so that the phone is finally recalled. Telephone manufacturers must also keep sustainability in the foreground, especially if buyers pay a nice penny and expect their devices to last.
“You cannot be thin; you must always have all the bells and whistles of a premium phone,” said Nabila Popal, principal data director and analysis at IDC, said to MWC. “The question is, how are the OEMs [phone makers] Are you going to achieve this without compromising other larger features such as battery and camera? “”
The Galaxy S25 Edge arrives, we just don’t know when – or any other detail.
This will be the challenge because more and more companies are undoubtedly focusing on the trend of thin phones. But if this is not necessarily what consumers asked for mass, why bothering the rearranged devices?
“For the most part, it’s an attempt for OEMs to differentiate themselves,” said Popal. Although the generative AI was clearly the greatness of the spotlights at the MWC last year, it has become so omnipresent that this year, the emphasis was more on strategy and implementation. Therefore, phone manufacturers must find a new way to stand out, and a light and attractive device is a way to do so.
This approach seems to work in places like China, where companies like Honor, Xiaomi And Huawei all made their debut on Slim Premium devices (which often serve as foldable). But Popal adds that the simple fact that something resonates in China does not necessarily mean that it will be in other parts of the world, because consumers in China tend to be more receptive to unique phones than in America. But that illustrates that, at least somewhere, thin phones are already hitting an agreement.
Find out more: MWC 2025: the strangest phones we have seen in Barcelona so far
Apple releasing a thinner phone could be particularly advantageous, especially since it has trouble differentiating its iPhones from each other, explains Anisha Bhatia, main analyst of platforms and consumption devices at Globaldata.
“For example, the iPhone 15 more model is currently occupying an uncertain position in the Apple range, stuck between the basic model and the more rich versions of pro and pro max, known as Bhatia.” This ambiguity has led to the confusion between consumers, who are struggling to differentiate the models more based on the value proposal and the set of features. Sales data indicate that more models have underperform compared to other iPhone variants. “”
On the other hand, something flashy like a thin iPhone is easier to distinguish, and could have a better chance of capturing the attention – and the dollars – buyers.
The OPPO N5 search is an example of a slim phone double as a foldable, measuring only 8.93 mm thick when closed and 4.21 mm thick when opening.
So, in a few years, the telephones even that the participants of the MWC 2025 impatiently hampered will be in their pockets and their hands, now capturing photos of everything that is considered the next technological innovation? Will thin phones become omnipresent and will they win?
“Slimming will not be a must, but it is certainly a feature that makes a phone more premium, and it is a good thing to have,” explains Popal.
What was once revolutionary often becomes the norm. Barely a few years ago, a larger phone screen was considered a special feature, but has now become standard. Alternatively, foldable phones have largely remained niches, even more than five years after the start of the Samsung galaxy fold. Thin phones could descend one or the other route; It’s just too early to predict, says Popal.
In addition, what is old is new again. The trend towards thinner phones brings back to the popularity of the original Razr by Motorola, which has become a phenomenon of pop culture when it was released in 2004 because of its thin construction, its unique shape and its trend (which would not want a bright pink phone like Paris Hilton ??). Motorola worked to recover this zeitgeist by reviving the Razr telephone line in the form of a foldable smartphone.
Back to the present day, even if lean phones do not end up going to the general public, it may not be such a bad thing, suggests Popal.
“I would say, why do you want to make it the standard? Keep him with a niche, keep him premium,” she said. “The sooner it will become a standard, the earlier the profitability goes.”
And crowds earlier launch out the next big thing (or slim).
Look at this: First look at the surprise of Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge
