Galaxy Unpacked is right around the corner and we expect to see Samsung show us the goodies it will have for sale in the coming year. We know the Galaxy S25 is coming, and that usually means three models ranging from regular to Ultra, but there are also some other variants said to be locked behind some Samsung secret vault.
One of them is a Galaxy S25 Slim. It appears to be a “regular”-sized Galaxy S25 that’s been put on a diet to slim down even more than the already slim Galaxy S25. What? Why?
Android & Chill
One of the web’s longest-running tech columns, Android & Chill is your Saturday discussion of Android, Google, and all things tech.
A phone is actually a very personal item. It’s part fashion choice, part utility, and part comfort. You want a phone that is easy to use, does the things you need it to do, and looks good. We all do.
With Android, there are thousands of different phones to choose from, so you can find the one that’s best for you. I want something easy to carry, cheap, and great at the things I call “smartphone basics,” like messaging, email, and organization. I chose a Motorola Razr 2024 and am completely satisfied with it.
You may want something to play games, has a ton of storage, or comes with a stylus. Go for the Galaxy S25 Ultra and never look back.
Both of us will find what we need.
I’m sure there are people out there who think 7mm is too thick and want a slimmer phone. I don’t know why, but I know those people exist. What I am sure of is that even those people aren’t willing to make the compromises to get it with the current state of phone-making technology and they will realize it once they buy into it.
Until things are miniaturized even more, you have to sacrifice two very important things to get a phone extra slim: battery capacity and durability. Both those things are pretty important.
Samsung will probably be able to decrease the camera bump with its new prism/lens tech; it places the lenses on the prism instead of in a separate space, making the whole thing shorter, and it is a pretty big deal we will see other phone makers use.
But that’s not going to shave off the thickness of the phone itself. You need room to sandwich a screen assembly, a mainboard, and a battery inside the frame. Current tech isn’t going to allow for a thinner screen combo or a thinner board so that means the only thing that can be made smaller is the battery. Smaller batteries mean less time away from the charger.
There are a million excuses why less battery capacity is fine. It charges really fast or you can carry around a battery pack are examples. I’m here to tell you that those excuses stink and you shouldn’t believe them because I used a Pixel 4 for a year. It was a great phone in almost every way — but the battery life sucked. Really sucked.
A slim phone will also be more fragile and have fewer means of cooling things down. You need room to move heat away from the processor package, and a thinner metal frame isn’t as robust as a thicker one. Bendgate II, anyone?
In the end, it may not matter because the Galaxy S25 Slim is nothing more than a render. So far. If it is locked away at Samsung HQ waiting to be foisted on the buying public sometime later this year, think long and hard about the trade-off that comes with shaving a few millimeters off a modern smartphone.
