Apple and Samsung are both expected to launch ultra-thin smartphones this year. The iPhone 17 Air will be Apple’s thinnest iPhone 17 and the thinnest iPhone ever. The Galaxy S25 Slim will also be thinner than the rest of the Galaxy S25 lineup.
The iPhone 17 Air was the first to appear in rumors and reports, while the Galaxy S25 Slim was just leaked. However, the release order will be cancelled.
Word on the street is that the Galaxy S25 Slim will appear Unpacked this month but hit stores in the second quarter of the year. The iPhone 17 Air will be announced in the first half of September and start selling in stores about 10 days later.
This will make it seem that Samsung is the first in the market with an ultra-thin phone. Regardless of Slim’s appeal to the public, I still hope Samsung will use it as a marketing tool for the second Apple unveils the iPhone 17 Air this September.
But who actually first came up with the idea of making an ultra-thin handset? A new story from Korea offers the answer you may have been hoping for.
Korean language news outlet SisaJournal detailed two ultra-thin devices in the report, repeating some of the claims that appeared in other rumors.
The iPhone 17 Air will have a profile of around 6.25mm, up to 1.6mm thinner than the iPhone 15 (7.8mm). The Galaxy S25 Slim will be slightly thicker than the Air at 6.6mm, but the Samsung phone will still be thinner than the 7.6mm Galaxy S24. The Galaxy S25 Slim can have a great camera advatage via Air, a multi-lens camera on the back.
The report also notes that the iPhone 17 Air will replace the Plus model. The Air will be announced in September and will cost roughly the same as the Plus. This is an interesting development, as the report quotes an unnamed industry official as saying that Apple has finalized product planning for the iPhone 17 Air.
Moving on to Samsung, the report says that the Korean giant will unveil the Galaxy S25 series soon. But the Galaxy S25 Slim will be released in the second or third quarter of 2025. This release window will still ensure that Samsung’s ultra-thin phone will be available in stores before the iPhone 17 Air is launched.
The price of the Galaxy S25 Slim will be lower than the Ultra, which is not a surprising claim. The report cites an official from the smartphone industry who said that the Galaxy S25 Slim is not expensive. The main goal is to respond to the iPhone 17 Air preemptively. Samsung also wants to see how the market reacts to its thinner flagship phone.
The report says that Samsung decided to make the Galaxy S25 Slim phone only when Apple decided to go ahead with the iPhone 17 Air model. That could settle the coming dispute over which ultra-thin phones came first. Then again, nothing official.
How will Samsung know about Apple’s plans? For starters, we already had rumors about the iPhone 17 Air before the Galaxy S25 appeared to leak. We also know that Samsung phones have never been a secret. No iPhone, but Apple can at least keep a few surprises in store here.
More importantly, Samsung Display and LG Display are rumored to supply the LTPO OLED panels that Apple needs for the entire iPhone 17 series. All four phones should support ProMotion (120Hz refresh rate).
The iPhone 17 Air screen will be smaller than the iPhone 16 Plus. There may be other specifics that Samsung and LG need to be aware of during the manufacturing phase. Therefore, Samsung will know that the iPhone 17 series may have special design changes.
Separately, I will point out that Samsung made an ultra-thin folding last year. The Galaxy Z Fold SE is a limited edition device that was released in Korea and China a few months ago. Samsung only expanded after years of pressure from competitors. The handset seems to be a success, and rumors say that the Galaxy Z Fold 7 will get the same design.
What I’m hoping for is that Samsung has the technology to make such a device, whether it’s foldable or not. It does not have the courage to be the first, although it will say that the Galaxy S25 Slim beat the iPhone 17 Air to the market.
