The Ultra-Slim Phone Trend is Already Dead (and Everyone Saw it Coming)

Sometimes, a series of events is so painfully obvious beforehand that you can't even brag about predicting it—everyone should have seen it coming. The trend of ultra-slim slab phones, like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge and the iPhone Air, is exactly one of those scenarios. In a very short time, reports suggest this trend is dying a rapid, expected death.

Sacrificing Features for No Real Gain

When leaks about the very slim Samsung S25 Edge began circulating, a phone rumored to have a small battery and a downgraded camera setup for its price, many people immediately questioned its purpose. Samsung's goal was apparently to compete against the iPhone Air, but that phone also made sacrifices for slimness, featuring only a single camera.

Both of these devices sacrificed features that consumers vocally demand—like better batteries and cameras—in exchange for a reduction in thickness. Most phones are already quite slim, and the marginal reduction in thickness does not seem to improve the device or offer a clear benefit to the user. These ultra-slim models seem like expensive phones that are worse simply for the sake of being thinner, which is a feature people largely do not care about.

Consumers Vote with Their Wallets

The failure of this trend is now being clearly demonstrated by sales figures. The "ultra-slim" Galaxy Edge is reportedly already dead. Samsung sold only 190,000 Edge units in the first month. In comparison, the thicker S25 sold 1.17 million units, and the Ultra sold 2.5 million units in the same period. This shows people voted with their wallets, indicating they "don't see the point" of the device.

The iPhone Air fared no better, as Apple is drastically cutting production orders to "nearly end of production levels" due to weak demand. Forecasts have dropped significantly, with about 10% fewer orders compared with the initial September numbers. Meanwhile, thicker phones with better batteries, cameras, and thermals are selling quite well. It is baffling that such large corporations came to this "obviously wrongheaded conclusion". Why did Apple think this was a good idea, and why did Samsung decide it was something worth copying?

a Fundamental Misunderstanding of "Thin"

The only logical explanation may be that the companies saw the hype surrounding ultra-thin foldables, such as the Galaxy Z Fold 7, and thought consumers simply wanted thin phones. This, however, is a complete misunderstanding of the foldable's appeal.

The whole point of a super-thin foldable is that when it is closed, it becomes roughly the thickness of a regular slab phone. Users wanted a foldable device to feel like a regular phone when folded and used. The "remarkably thin" nature of the device when opened is just a side effect of the initial goal of reducing the folded bulk. Furthermore, even successful foldables like the Z Fold 7 still face criticism for tradeoffs like smaller batteries and lack of a strong zoom camera—sacrifices made for the reduction in thickness.

The Core Problem

For the new ultra-slim slab phones, the thickness reduction is just "all sacrifice" with no benefit. With foldables, slimming down made sense; there was a functional benefit (reduced folded size). With these slab phones, there is no compelling reason for the device to be any thinner than most already are, so you get the hardware sacrifice without any real benefit. It is difficult to understand how large, successful corporations invested significant research and development money into creating two phones that many could have predicted were not going to sell.