Do you remember that brief run of months in 2025 when every phone company under the sun decided that we really wanted ultra-thin phones?
There was the iPhone Air and the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge on the Android side.
Still, let’s not forget the likes of the Motorola Edge 70, Nubia Air, Tecno Slim, and a deluge of foldables, which tripped over themselves to claim the title of “thinnest.”
By all accounts, these phones failed to impress buyers.
Who’d have thought that a flimsy-feeling, low-spec handset, priced higher than a flagship, would have a tough time winning over fans?
According to reports, fewer than a million iPhone Airs found their way into shopping baskets (the rest of the iPhone 17 family was near 250 million by the end of 2025), and poor Galaxy S25 Edge sales hurt Samsung.
The assumption from tech fans was that these brands wouldn’t release sequel smartphones to these failures, but iPhone Air 2 leaks have begun swirling, suggesting that Apple thinks the second time could be the charm.
So could other thin-phone makers be working on sequel mobiles? It’s hard to say — but I really hope that Samsung isn’t, because it could do a lot better than a Galaxy S26 Edge.
Bring the Edge DNA to main-series phones
Not thin in name, but thin in nature
Since the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge was released, we’ve heard hints of it in the announcement of other mobiles.
When the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra was announced, the brand pointed out how its 7.9mm thickness was 0.3mm less than the S25 Ultra.
The same point was made with the Galaxy A57. At 6.9mm thick, it’s a full 0.5mm more slender than the Galaxy A56, and when I tested it, you could really feel its daintiness.
Clearly, whatever shrinking magic Samsung had to use to make the Galaxy S25 Edge has been used in some of its more recent phones.
And that’s the way it should be: learning from a failed experiment.
But with the brand learning lots from the Galaxy S25 Edge and putting some of its thin DNA into other phones, it begs the question: Is there really any space for an S26 Edge?
I’d say no.
I’d rather the brand continue to work out this technology internally and use it to inform its existing flagships.
If the S25 Edge felt like a concept phone, I’d rather test the real deal.
This isn’t the year for vanity phones
We don’t want less for more
I understand the appeal of thin phones in this economy.
Rising component prices mean that design, not internal refinements, is what will let manufacturers iterate year after year without price hikes.
But none of the thin phones that came out last year offered anything resembling value for money.
The iPhone Air at $1,000 and Galaxy S25 Edge at $1,099 cost far more than the “standard” siblings they launched against, yet with specs that weren’t as good.
In other words, you’re paying more money to get less phone.
I tested several thin phones, like the Motorola Edge 70, and was struck by how its value for money didn’t match what you’d get in a wider mobile.
But given how expensive smartphones have become in 2026, buyers aren’t likely to see that as a good deal.
Phone fans will want as much as they can get for their hard-earned money, and a thin phone doesn’t fit with that motivation.
Thin phones aren’t what people are asking for
People want something smaller
The problem at the core of the short-lived thin phone revolution is that people were never asking for slender mobiles like this.
Most people I’ve spoken to actively seek out larger phones, believing a bigger screen size makes a mobile better. I don’t agree, but I see the logic.
There is an outspoken community looking for svelte handsets, but crucially, they’re not asking for thinner phones. They’re asking for smaller ones.
When you put a phone in your pocket, its footprint dictates how much space it takes: its height and width, not its thickness.
When you’re struggling to get your hand around a massive mobile, it’s because it has a large display, not because it’s wide at the seams.
Thin phones don’t solve the problems people are having, and many brands releasing thin phones seem to miss this important point.
Samsung delivers what people want. The Galaxy S26’s 6.3-inch display is below the average size.
Sure, it’s still bigger than mobiles used to be, but compact phones are a dying breed, and Samsung already has one of the best antidotes.
8.5/10
- SoC
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Exynos 1580
- Display type
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Super AMOLED+
- Display dimensions
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6.7-inches
- Display resolution
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2340 x 1080
