Apple iPhone 17 Air And Samsung Galaxy S25 Slim May Be Headed For A Showdown

hero iphone 17 air macrumors x iphon
This year is possibly going to be the year of thin phones. As buzz builds over Samsung's Galaxy S25 Slim and Apple's rumored iPhone 17 Air, the industry is wondering what the smartphone landscape will look this time next year (assuming the trend takes off). Will Samsung and Apple start a snowball effect of skinny phones? Will Zach at JerryRigEverything be having the time of his life?

Let's start with Apple's ultra-thin iPhone 17. We've covered rumors of this mystery device before, but in a recent PowerOn Newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman insists that the phone will inherit the "Air" branding, in line with the company's MacBook and iPad svelte offerings, and be roughly 2mm thinner than existing models. Other sources have detailed that the iPhone 17 Air will be 5.5mm (at the thinnest point, to be clear), besting even the iPhone 6's 6.9mm. Of course, with great thinness comes the possibility of great flexing—can Cupertino keep the chassis stiff or will we see a repeat of the bendgate debacle from several years ago?

Gurman also states that the iPhone 17 Air will be a new model with specs more in line with the standard iPhone 17. He says that the phone "will have a base-level A19 chip and a single-lens camera system," while also serving "as a testing ground for future technologies, including ones that could allow for foldable devices.” Moreover, Gurman mentions that both the new iPhone Air and SE will sport Apple's first homemade modem. 

Galaxy S25 Ultra%20(2)
Samsung S25 Slim render (Credit: OnLeaks via AndroidHeadline)

On the Android front, Samsung is reportedly readying the Galaxy S25 Slim, which will be almost as thin as the Air (at 5.6mm... so close, Samsung). The device is expected to possess the powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite with 12GB RAM, although early benchmark scores denote an underclocked setup, possibly to balance battery endurance with the smaller battery pack. Coincidentally, the Slim will be exactly the same thickness/thinness as an unfolded Galaxy Z Fold 6, which isn't known for battery endurance. Perhaps the 8 Elite SoC will change that somewhat.

The S25 Slim is also thought to be feature a 200-megapixel HP5 ISOCELL rear camera, 50-megapixel JN5 ISOCELL ultra-wide angle plus another JN5 serving as a 3.5x telephoto, at least trumping Apple on that front.

Photo credit: Macrumors