The paradox of ultra-thin smartphones: why everyone is selling, but no one is buying
The launch of the iPhone 17 Air was followed by announcements of ultra-thin smartphones from other manufacturers (hello, Moto X70 Air and Moto Edge 70). The news of poor sales and the discontinuation of the iPhone 17 Air itself was almost lost in the flood of announcements. So do people need these "blades" or not?
Thin and even thinner
First, let's define what smartphone is considered ultra-thin. The iPhone Air is 5.6 mm thick. Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge is 5.8 mm. Huawei Mate 70 Air is almost a millimetre thicker. But these are modern models. And they have not yet reached the records of the past. For example, ten years ago, the Oppo R5 was only 4.85 mm thick. You wouldn't even notice the difference without a caliper, would you?
Oppo R5. Illustration: Oppo
Why you need it
Once upon a time, back in the days of push-button phones, a smaller thickness was a sign of technological advancement, high price, and therefore the owner's image. Perhaps the most striking example is the Motorola RAZR V3 of 2004, which was 13.9 mm thick when folded. Thus, when unfolded, it was comparable to the modern iPhone 7 (about 7 mm), but at the time it seemed like a real "blade" and cost five hundred bucks. Yes, it was less than the new iPhone now, but it looked more impressive.
Why it didn't catch on with the masses
In fact, the fashion for slim phones, and later smartphones, has just become widespread. As you can see, seven millimetres turned from a unique feature into the mainstream. However, the difference between 14 and 7 millimetres is more noticeable than if you compare 7 and 5 millimetres. Especially if you carry your smartphone in a case, which eats up this difference. Instead, engineers have to downgrade the smartphone's performance for the sake of these two marketing millimetres: reduce the battery and compromise on other components.
What records to expect
The surge of interest (by manufacturers, not buyers) in ultra-thin smartphones is due to the "Apple effect". When something is shown in Cupertino, competitors, even if they are only fictitious, also want to get at least a crumb of potential commercial success. If it didn't take off, we were still not ashamed to show the same thing as Apple. If it takes off in the US, we are in the trend. This is how it looks like. As you can see, this time it doesn't fly very well. We already know why: there is little effect, and the technical compromises are unpleasant. Therefore, it is quite possible to produce a four-millimetre smartphone for the sake of a record, but it will not be sold en masse. However, neither will crazy monsters like the half-kilogram Oukitel 100 with a thickness of 35.6 mm.
Which of these two extremes do you prefer?
Oukitel WP100. Illustration: Oukitel
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