Phones have been getting taller, wider, and skinnier for years — but Samsung and Apple are pushing 2025 as the year of ultra-skinny devices, as both prepare to add thinner new phones to their respective Galaxy and iPhone lineups.

Here’s what we know about what both tech giants are planning.

Samsung teases ‘sleek’ Galaxy S25 Edge

Unveiling its new Galaxy S25 series on Thursday morning Australian time, Samsung teased the Galaxy S25 Edge — a new device believed to be less than 7mm thick (or thin, depending on how you look at it).

The company literally dangled what appeared to be a prototype or dummy model of the device in front of journalists at its Galaxy Unpacked event in San Jose, California, but did not confirm exactly how thin the device was, when it would be released, or how much it would cost.

However, a Samsung executive reportedly told Bloomberg the South Korean company planned to release the device in the first half of 2025.

Industry analysts expect Samsung to price the S25 Edge between the S25 (which starts at $1,399) and the more premium S25 Ultra (starting at $2,149), thereby installing the S25 Edge as a mid-tier device.

Samsung Australia would not confirm any details about the phone.

Revealing the S25 Edge in a brief teaser at the end of its Thursday keynote, Samsung told onlookers the device was “a culmination of our most innovative technology, packed into a form that’s sleek, powerful, and unlike anything you’ve seen before”.

The model put out on display had two cameras on its rear — one less than the typical three cameras found on the regular S25.

Rumoured to be around 6.4mm thick, the S25 Edge will be thinner than the S25’s 7.2mm breadth and the S25 Ultra’s 8.2mm.

Samsung has touted its S25 series, which will be released on 14 February, as a further shift towards its phones being “a true AI companion”.

Multimodal AI agents would allow the new devices to “interpret text, speech, images, and videos for interactions that feel natural”, the company said.


Samsung says its Galaxy S25 lineup provides users with 'a true AI companion'. Image: Samsung / Supplied

Apple reportedly prepping ‘iPhone 17 Air’

While Apple is yet to announce a thinner new addition to its iPhone lineup, the company is reportedly developing a model rumoured to be called iPhone 17 Air, potentially for release in September alongside its next generation of mobile devices.

The thinner new device could replace Apple’s taller and wider iPhone Plus models, which have not been big hits.

It also comes after Apple stopped releasing a shorter and narrower Mini version of its iPhones due to lacklustre sales, following the iPhone 13 Mini in 2021.

Rumours and an alleged image of the so-called iPhone 17 Air have suggested the device will have only one camera on its rear, inside an elongated horizontal camera bump similar to those on some Google Pixel phones.

A leaker who goes by the name Majin Bu — who has a mixed track record when it comes to accuracy — shared an image of an alleged iPhone 17 Air prototype on Wednesday, but said they still had “some doubts” about the legitimacy of the device shown in the photo.

“It’s difficult to establish with certainty whether this is a genuine preview of the future device or a clever fake,” they wrote on their website.

Apple’s ultra-thin iPhone could be around 5.5mm at its thinnest section, according to reputable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

The device would “likely” not support physical SIM cards and would instead rely only on eSIMs due to its thin design, Kuo wrote in a blog post earlier this month.

The thinner new model was also unlikely to significantly boost Apple’s iPhone sales this year, Kuo argued, “partly due to downgraded components paired with a high price and a user experience similar to current models”.

Reports have suggested the iPhone 17 Air could have only a single speaker, a smaller battery, and would not be powered by Apple’s most powerful mobile processor.

Apple is expected to announce an upgraded version of its budget iPhone SE model in the first quarter of 2025, before revealing its iPhone 17 models in September.