Amid the throngs of humanoid robots, automotive ideas and futuristic shows at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, dozens of individuals swarm round one explicit stand. From a distance, it seems to be one among many cubicles showcasing one more smartphone lineup. But a better look reveals what everybody’s eagerly making an attempt to get their fingers on: a remarkably slim telephone in contrast to something I’ve ever seen.On show is Tecno’s Spark Slim telephone idea, a handset measuring 5.75mm thick (skinnier than a typical pencil) and weighing solely 146 grams, in line with the corporate. After ready about 15 minutes for my flip, I choose up the coveted telephone and am immediately amazed. It’s gentle as a feather and but does not really feel like one thing I can snap in half. I do my very own visible thickness check by pulling a pen out of my backpack and evaluating it: the Spark Slim is, actually, notably thinner.Tecno is not the one firm that appears to imagine slim is in. A couple of halls down, Samsung shows its Galaxy S25 Edge, which stays simply out of attain behind a barricade, surrounded by a equally impenetrable crowd of keen spectators. Details on that telephone, from specs to launch date, are simply as slim as its look. But studies counsel we’ll see it someday this yr. Read extra: Best of MWC 2025: Affordable Phones and Cool Camera IdeasOppo, too, has launched the Find N5, which it calls the “world’s thinnest book-style foldable,” measuring simply 8.93mm thick when closed and 4.21mm thick when opened. The dimension and form blew me away once I examined it, and helped assuage a few of my reservations in regards to the practicality and bulkiness of different foldables. And maybe one of many largest rumors main as much as the anticipated launch of the iPhone 17 lineup is a possible iPhone “Air,” a thinner (and presumably lighter) model of Apple’s handset. The Tecno Spark Slim telephone idea is thinner than a pencil. It felt tremendous gentle in my hand. Abrar Al-Heeti/CNETBut a thinner telephone, whereas a cool flex, can result in drawbacks. Less area usually means a smaller battery, and due to this fact shorter battery life. Camera {hardware} can get scaled again, too, resulting in decrease picture high quality. Storage area can equally take a success. These are all main concessions for telephone patrons, who nonetheless rank battery life, digicam high quality and space for storing amongst their high priorities. Pushing the boundaries may be disastrous, as Samsung discovered when it opted to slim down the design of the Galaxy Note 7, just for gadgets to start out smoking and for the telephone to in the end be recalled. Phone makers additionally need to hold sturdiness on the forefront, particularly if patrons are paying a reasonably penny and anticipate their gadgets to final. “You can’t just be thin; you have to still have all the bells and whistles of a premium phone,” Nabila Popal, senior director of knowledge and analytics at IDC, tells me at MWC. “The question is, how are OEMs [phone makers] going to achieve that without compromising the other more important features like battery and camera?” The Galaxy S25 Edge is coming, we simply do not know when — or another particulars. Abrar Al-Heeti/CNETThat’ll be the problem as extra corporations undoubtedly lean into the skinny telephones pattern. But if it isn’t essentially what shoppers have requested for in droves, why hassle slimming down gadgets?”For the most part, it’s an attempt for OEMs to differentiate,” Popal says. While generative AI was the clear spotlight-grabber throughout final yr’s MWC, it is turn into so ubiquitous that this yr, the main focus has been extra about technique and implementation. Therefore, telephone makers have to discover a new approach to stand out, and an eye-catchingly slim and interesting gentle gadget is a technique to do this. This method appears to be working in locations like China, the place corporations like Honor, Xiaomi and Huawei have all debuted slim premium gadgets (which regularly double as foldables, too). But Popal provides that simply because one thing resonates in China does not essentially imply it’s going to in different components of the world, as shoppers in China are typically extra receptive to distinctive telephones than they’re in America. But it illustrates that, at the least someplace, slim telephones are already putting a chord. Read extra: MWC 2025: The Weirdest Phones We’ve Seen in Barcelona So FarApple releasing a thinner telephone could possibly be notably advantageous, particularly because it struggles to distinguish its iPhones from one another, says Anisha Bhatia, senior analyst of client platforms and gadgets at GlobalData. “For example, the iPhone 15 Plus model currently occupies an uncertain position in Apple’s lineup, wedged between the base model and the more feature-rich Pro and Pro Max versions, Bhatia says. “This ambiguity has led to confusion amongst shoppers, who wrestle to distinguish the Plus fashions primarily based on worth proposition and have set. Sales knowledge signifies that the Plus fashions have underperformed compared to different iPhone variants.”On the other hand, something flashy like a thin iPhone is easier to distinguish, and could have a better shot at capturing the attention — and dollars — of shoppers. The Oppo Find N5 is an example of a thin phone the doubles as a foldable, measuring just 8.93mm thick when closed and 4.21mm thick when opened. Andrew Lanxon/CNETSo in a few year’s time, will the very phones that MWC 2025 attendees eagerly crowded around be in their pockets and hands, now capturing photos of whatever is deemed the next tech innovation? Will thin phones become ubiquitous and win?”Thinness shouldn’t be going to be vital, however it’s undoubtedly a function that makes a telephone really feel extra premium, and it is a good to have,” Popal says. What was once revolutionary often becomes the norm. Just a few years ago, a bigger phone screen was considered a special feature, but has now become standard. Alternatively, foldable phones have largely stayed niche, even more than five years after the debut of the Samsung Galaxy Fold. Slim phones could go down either route; it’s just too early to predict, Popal says.Also, what’s old is new again. The trend toward thinner phones harkens back to the popularity of Motorola’s original Razr, which became a pop culture phenomenon upon its release in 2004 because of its slim build, unique shape and trendiness (who wouldn’t want a hot pink phone just like Paris Hilton’s??). Motorola’s been working to recapture that zeitgeist by reviving the Razr phone line in the form of a foldable smartphone. Back to the present day, even if skinny phones don’t end up going mainstream, that might not be such a bad thing, Popal suggests. “I’d argue, why do you need to make it the norm? Keep it area of interest, hold it premium,” she says. “The sooner it turns into a norm, the earlier the profitability goes.” And the earlier crowds transfer on to swarm across the subsequent massive (or slim) factor. Watch this: First Look at Samsung’s Surprise Galaxy S25 Edge
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