Apple and Samsung are both expected to launch ultra-thin smartphones this year. The iPhone 17 Air will be Apple’s thinnest iPhone 17 flavor and the thinnest iPhone ever made. The Galaxy S25 Slim will also be much 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 showed up in leaks only recently. However, the release order will be reversed.
Word on the street is that the Galaxy S25 Slim will make an appearance at Unpacked this month but hit stores in the second quarter of the year. The iPhone 17 Air will be unveiled in the first half of September and start selling in stores about 10 days later.
This would make it seem like Samsung was the first to the market with an ultra-thin phone. Regardless of the Slim’s appeal to the public, I still expect Samsung to use it as a marketing tool the second Apple unveils the iPhone 17 Air this September.
But who was really the first to come up with the idea of making an ultra-thin handset? A new story from Korea offers the answer you might already be expecting.
Korean-language news outlet SisaJournal detailed both ultra-thin devices in a report, repeating some of the claims that appeared in other rumors.
The iPhone 17 Air will have a profile of around 6.25mm, which is 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 could have a big camera advatage over the 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 unveiled in September and cost about as much as the Plus. This is where things get interesting, as the report quotes an unnamed industry official who said Apple has already completed product planning for the iPhone 17 Air.
Moving on to Samsung, the report says 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 would still ensure that Samsung’s ultra-thin phone will be available in stores before the iPhone 17 Air launches.
The Galaxy S25 Slim’s price will be lower than the Ultra, which isn’t a surprising claim. The report cites an official from the smartphone industry saying that the Galaxy S25 Slim can’t be expensive. Its main purpose is to respond to the iPhone 17 Air preemptively. Samsung also wants to see how the market reacts to a thinner flagship phone.
The report says that Samsung decided to make a Galaxy S25 Slim phone only when Apple decided to go forward with the iPhone 17 Air model. That could settle the upcoming dispute about which ultra-thin phone came first. Then again, none of this is official.
How would Samsung even know about Apple’s plans? For starters, we’ve had rumors about the iPhone 17 Air long before the Galaxy S25 showed up in leaks. We also know that Samsung phones are never well-kept secrets. Neither is the iPhone, but Apple at least manages to save a few surprises here and there.
More importantly, Samsung Display and LG Display are rumored to supply the LTPO OLED panels 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. It might have other particularities that Samsung and LG would have to be aware of during the manufacturing phase. Therefore, Samsung would have some knowledge that the iPhone 17 series might see a specific design change.
Separately, I’ll point out that Samsung made an ultra-thin foldable last year. The Galaxy Z Fold SE is a limited edition device released in Korea and China a few months ago. Samsung only developed it after years of pressure from competitors. The handset seems to be a success, and rumors say the Galaxy Z Fold 7 will inherit that design.
What I’m getting at is that Samsung has the tech to make such devices happen, whether they’re foldables or not. It doesn’t have the courage to be first, even if it’ll say so once the Galaxy S25 Slim beats the iPhone 17 Air to market.
