iPhone 17 Air and Galaxy S25 Edge to be rendered too thick on arrival by this slim beauty

Judging by how absolutely soaked with the abbreviation "AI" the Galaxy Unpacked event from last week was, one could say that the trend for 2025 is as clear as an azure sky of deepest summer: artificial intelligence will reign supreme.

Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe there's another trend for 2025… and it has to do with a phone's waist.

Sure, AI is the talk of the town these days. And how could it not be? After all, it was mere hours ago that a Chinese AI disruptor model by the name of DeepSeek (a company that was literally unknown up until two weeks ago) managed to wipe out $593 billion (!) of Nvidia's market value. Some say that's a record single-day loss for any company on Wall Street.

But AI on a phone? I have mixed feelings about it, as does my colleague Preslav:

• AI on smartphones is in a battle with time, and it’s losing

As you can see, I am also falling in the AI trap right now. I'm spending way too much time on AI.

I almost forgot that we've gathered today to talk about physical (not metaphysical) phone properties. We're here to discuss some wasp waists. So let's put aside all the AI talk for another day!

Slim phones, shady rumors

There's almost zero chance that you missed the news: soon, the market will welcome two thin handsets from the world's two most popular brands, Apple and Samsung:

• iPhone 17 Air
• Galaxy S25 Edge

So far, Google is reluctant to ride the hype train with its own slim Pixel, but, hey, 2025 has just begun.



As of now (that's the end of January 2025), nothing is official: rumors about the iPhone 17 Air are sporadic. They claim that the phone itself will be nothing special in terms of specs; Apple relies on its design to allure buyers. The iPhone 17 Air (I might as well start calling it the AirPhone 17) is rumored to be 6.25mm thick… and some insiders say it could be 5.5mm at its thinnest part, whatever that means.

The Galaxy S25 Edge was kind of unveiled at the recent Galaxy Unpacked last week. Or should I say "previewed" – the phone's prototype was presented, but this might not be its final form. Things could change in the coming months. Nobody said anything about its thickness, but it's expected to be around the 6.4mm mark.

How does that compare to the iPad Pro M4 (2024), though?

The iPad Pro M4 (2024) is the point of reference

Wait, why the parallel with Apple's most expensive tablet of all things?

Well, because there's another super-thin phone coming soon. And its creators are comparing its thickness with that of the iPad Pro M4 (2024): a mind-boggling powerhouse of a tablet that's 5.1mm thick (for the 13-inch model).

See, the one that's being compared to the iPad is even thinner.

Which, in return, makes it far thinner than both the iPhone 17 Air and the Galaxy S25 Edge, if their rumored aforementioned waists turn out to be true at (give or take) 6mm.

But which phone are we talking about here?

Something sleek in the way

Say hello to the OnePlus Open 2, or the Oppo Find N5 (the two companies are joined at the hip, so these are the two monikers of the same device).

On top of it all, it's a foldable:

• The upcoming OnePlus Open 2 makes the thinnest iPad Pro look chunky

The upcoming Oppo Find N5 is rumored to measure less than 4 mm in thickness when unfolded, potentially surpassing the Honor Magic V3, which is among the world’s thinnest foldable smartphones at 4.4mm when unfolded. There's a Magic V4 approaching as well.

Let's not forget the reality-bending Huawei Mate XT – the world's first tri-foldable which brings along a 3.6mm thinness.

"But the OnePlus Open 2 is so much more expensive!"

Yes. But you get thrice the screen real estate. And it folds. And it's going to be incredibly potent and powerful, judging by recent leaks (and by how successful the original OnePlus Open was). It's going to be a proper flagship with cutting-edge technology inside.

It's going to be what Samsung and Apple should dream of at night, if they even have any shred of desire for innovation left in them.

Sure, the OnePlus Open 2 will be more expensive (with its $1,500 rumored price tag) than both the iPhone 17 Air and the Galaxy S25 Edge if they start at ~$1,000.

The iPhone 17 Air and the Galaxy S25 Edge will be rendered TTOA (Too Thick On Arrival) by the OnePlus slim beauty, once it arrives.

Moreover, the OnePlus Open 2 is going to be a flagship device, while Apple's and Samsung's slim handsets will be pretty modest when it comes to specs and raw power. Personally, I'm kind of skeptical about their battery performance above all, but let's wait it out and see.

Speaking of batteries, I'd much rather have me a juicy, chunky, ~1cm thick phone with a two-day battery life, but hey, to each his own.

Maybe thin phones will be a hit. Maybe not. It's up to you.