Amidst the crowds of humanoid robots, the concepts of car and futuristic shows at the World Congress of Mobile in Barcelona, dozens of people plunge around a special attitude. From a distance, it seems to be one of the many cabins showing another smartphone formation. But a closer look reveals what everyone is barely trying to get their hands: an extremely thin phone, unlike everything I have ever seen.
On the screen is the concept of a thin phone of Spark Tecno, a 5.75 mm thick mobile (weaker than a standard pencil) and weighs only 146 grams, according to the company. After waiting for about 15 minutes for my turn, I get the coveted phone and am amazed immediately. Light is light as a feather and yet I don’t feel like something that can catch it in half. I do my visual thick test by pulling a pen from my back and comparing it: the thin spark is, in fact, especially thinner.
Tecno is not the only company that seems to believe Slim is inside. Some rooms below, Samsung shows the Edge Galaxy S25, which remains only out of reach after a barricade, surrounded by a similar crowd of the thirsty spectators. The details on that phone, from the specifications to the date of release, are as few as its appearance. But reports suggest we will see it somewhere this year.
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OPPO, too, has launched Find N5, which he calls “folding the style of the thinnest book in the world”, measuring only 8.93 mm thick when closed and 4.21 mm thick when opened. The size and form exploded me when I tried it, and I helped set up some of my reservations about practicality and most of the other folds. And perhaps one of the biggest rumors leading to the predicted release of the iPhone 17 formation is a possible version of the iPhone “Air”, a thinner (and apparently easier) version of Apple’s mobile.
The concept of thin Tecno Spark phone is thinner than a pencil. It felt super light in my hand.
But a thinner phone, while a cold flexion can lead to flaws. Less space often means a smaller battery, and therefore shorter battery life. The camera device can also be withdrawn, leading to lower picture quality. The storage space similarly can take a hit. These are all the main concessions for phone buyers, who still list battery life, camera quality and storage space among their main advantages.
Pushing borders can be catastrophic, as Samsung learned when he chose to reduce the Galaxy Note 7 model, only for the equipment to start smoking and that the phone eventually withdraws. Phone manufacturers also have to keep durability on the forehead, especially if buyers are paying a nice penny and expecting their equipment to last.
“You can’t just be thin; you still have to have all the bells and whistles of a premium phone,” Nabila Popal, the senior data and analytical director at IDC, tells me, tells MWC. “The question is, how are OEM [phone makers] Will you achieve it without compromising the other most important features such as batteries and camera? “
The Galaxy S25 Edge is coming, we just don’t know when – or any other details.
This will be the challenge as more companies are undoubtedly faint in the trend of thin phones. But if it is not necessarily what customers have sought in motion, why worry about reducing equipment?
“For the most part, it’s an attempt to distinguish OEM,” says Popal. While the generating was a clear clip of the attention of last year’s MWC, it has become as ubiquitous as this year, the concentration has been more about strategy and implementation. Therefore, telephone manufacturers have to find a new way to get out, and a light and attractive light device is a way to make it.
This approach seems to be working in countries like China, where companies like Honor, Xiaomi and Huawei have debuted all the few Premium devices (which often double as a folder). But popal adds that only because something resonates in China does not mean that it will be in other parts of the world, as consumers in China tend to be more prone to unique phones than they are in America. But it illustrates that, at least somewhere, few phones are already hitting an chord.
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Apple that releases a thinner phone can be particularly useful, especially as it fights to distinguish its iPhone from one another, says Anisha Bhatia, high analyst of platforms and consumer equipment in Globaldata.
“For example, the iPhone 15 Plus model currently occupies an unsafe position in the Apple lineup, bound between the base model and the richest versions with pro and pro Max features, says Bhatia.” This uncertainty has led to confusion among customers who fight to distinguish patterns plus based on the value of the proposal and determined. Sales data show that Plus models have underformed compared to other iPhone variants. “
On the other hand, something lit like a thin iPhone is easier to distinguish, and can have a better blow to catch attention – and dollars – of buyers.
OPPO Find N5 is an example of a thin double phone as a folding person, measuring only 8.93 mm thick when closed and 4.21 mm thick when opened.
So, within a few years of a year, will many phones be for those present in the MWC 2025 impatiently filled in their pockets and hands, now capturing photos of everything that is considered other technology innovation? Will the thin phones be made ubiquitous and will win?
“Thinness will not be a must, but it is definitely a feature that makes a phone feel more premium, and it’s good to have,” Popal says.
What was once revolutionary often becomes the norm. Just a few years ago, a larger phone screen was considered a special feature, but now it has become standard. Otherwise, folding phones have stayed largely warm, even more than five years after debuting the folding of the Samsung Galaxy. The few phones could go down on a road; Just too early to predict, says Popal.
Also, what is old is again new. The tendency towards the thinnest phones attracts the popularity of the original Razr of Motorola, which became a phenomenon of pop culture after its release in 2004 due to its exquisite construction, unique form and fashion (who would not want a hot pink phone just like Paris Hilton?). Motorola was working to capture that zeitgeist by revitalizing the Razr phone line in the form of a folding smartphone.
Back to this day, even if weak phones do not end up going to the main course, this may not be such a bad thing, Popal suggests.
“I would argue, why do you want to make that norm? Keep it warm, keep it premium,” she says. “The sooner a norm becomes, the sooner the benefit goes.”
And the sooner the crowds move to shake around the future big (or scarce) things.
Look at this: First Overview of Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge