{"id":229463,"date":"2025-10-16T16:51:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T16:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/229463\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T16:51:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T16:51:08","slug":"thin-phones-might-be-harder-to-sell-than-samsung-and-apple-thought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/229463\/","title":{"rendered":"Thin Phones Might Be Harder to Sell Than Samsung and Apple Thought"},"content":{"rendered":"

Innovation can be a tough business, especially when it comes to mobile phones<\/a>. While new form factors like Samsung\u2019s foldable Galaxy Z Fold<\/a> and Z Flip<\/a> have already been solidified with seven generations, other iterations (looking at you, iPhone Plus and iPhone Mini<\/a>) haven\u2019t quite survived the test of time. Still, the pressure to deliver something new\u00a0is always there, and it\u2019s apparently now the ultra-thin handset\u2019s turn. It\u2019s too early to know for sure precisely how that experiment will pan out, but rumblings in the here and now aren\u2019t exactly painting a rosy picture.<\/p>\n

A report from South Korea\u2019s Newspim indicates that<\/a> Samsung, one of two titans that\u2019s thrown its hat into the thin phone ring, may pull the plug on its Galaxy S26 Edge, the sequel to its 5.8mm\u00a0Galaxy S25 Edge released this year<\/a>. The reason? Lower-than-expected sales, according to the report. That makes practical sense from Samsung\u2019s part (if people aren\u2019t buying it, you probably shouldn\u2019t sell it), but given the unique challenges of making thin phones, there could also be more going on behind the scenes.<\/p>\n

[Exclusive] \u201cNot Selling Well at All\u201d\u2026 Samsung to Discontinue Ultra-Slim \u2018Galaxy Edge\u2019 Line<\/p>\n

Samsung Electronics has decided to discontinue its ultra-slim smartphone lineup, the \u201cEdge\u201d series. The decision comes just five months after the company ambitiously launched the\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/ixKHQN9sgk<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Jukan (@Jukanlosreve) October 16, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

As Raymond Wong, Gizmodo\u2019s senior editor, consumer tech, already wrote, upgrading thin phones from generation to generation is likely to be quite difficult (and for that reason, you shouldn\u2019t count on the iPhone Air 2 having an ultrawide camera)<\/a>. A thin phone, quite simply, gives you less room to play around with. Apple, for example, shoved all of the camera hardware and computing power into one tiny sliver on the top of its iPhone Air,<\/a> making the rest of the phone essentially a giant battery.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s always room for a battery breakthrough that could help Apple shrink that brick and make room for more stuff inside the chassis, but that\u2019s more speculation than anything else. In the current reality, the constraints of thin phones may be too great\u2014great enough that a generation-to-generation leap could require more research and development money than it\u2019s worth.<\/p>\n

Given that thin phones are already difficult to make and that demand has proven low, thin phones may have a tougher time evolving than Samsung and Apple predicted they might. Don\u2019t get me wrong: I haven\u2019t used the iPhone Air at length, but I\u2019ve messed around with it, and it\u2019s an impressive feat of engineering. The appeal of a device with such a small footprint was obvious to me the second I held it in my hand. That being said, this report\u2014if true\u2014may indicate that many consumers don\u2019t actually want a smaller, thinner device at all costs. Which would make sense: Many folks also care a lot about camera quality and battery life, and if the iPhone Air can\u2019t compete on those fronts, it may also have a limited audience.<\/p>\n

Only time and concrete sales numbers will tell whether thin phones are here to stay, but to be honest, it didn\u2019t surprise me to hear this rumor: It already feels like thin phones are on thin ice.<\/p>\n