Samsung’s new Galaxy S25 Edge is poised to be the thinnest phone on the market, beating Apple to the punch in this new design category.
The phone was unveiled at the conclusion of Samsung’s Samsung Unpacked presentation on Jan 22 in San Jose, California. The S25 Edge is part of the S25 lineup, which focuses on artificial intelligence features rather than major hardware upgrades.
The move by Samsung reignites the race to create the slimmest smartphone possible, a trend that had died down in recent years as manufacturers focused on adding more camera technology to their devices. Apple is also expected to release an ultrathin version of the iPhone later this year.
Samsung’s S25 Edge will be the fourth model in the Galaxy S25 family. The other phones in the lineup focus on new AI features and voice commands. Samsung has partnered with Alphabet Inc’s Google Gemini to create its own on-device AI.
“Launching new flagship smartphones has become a considerable headache for all the leading manufacturers,” said Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight. “Top-end products are now so good that it’s extremely difficult to deliver any meaningful differentiation from one year to the next. It’s little surprise that phone makers are hoping that a little ‘AI magic dust’ will help turn consumers’ heads, but that’s proving to be a tough sell too.”
Samsung plans to start selling the Edge in the US and other markets by the middle of the year, according to TM Roh, president of its mobile devices business. The company is also working with Google on a mixed-reality headset, dubbed Project Moohan, and is developing augmented reality glasses using the same new software, Android XR.
The Edge will incorporate many of the same technologies found in the new Ultra model, but will package them in a thinner design. “Customers want the best performance, the best camera features, the best AI, but at the same time they want an even more attractive form factor that stands out among the pack,” Roh said in an interview.
“We’ve been trying to combine all the advantages of the S25 Ultra in a slimmer form factor,” he said.
For Apple, a skinny model is its latest attempt to find a new phone size that consumers embrace. In recent years, it has offered a mini iPhone and a Plus model, but neither of them were big hits. The Plus version will be replaced by this new thinner variant, which some are dubbing the iPhone Air, according to Bloomberg News reports. It will be the thinnest iPhone ever released.
Roh said Samsung chose the Edge name as a reference to both the thinner design and the idea that the phone will use more cutting-edge technology. It also revives a brand used by Samsung several years ago when it first launched phones with curved-edge displays.
Roh said the company has “high expectations for this product.” Samsung hasn’t settled on a price yet, but acknowledged it will be cheaper than the US$1,299 (RM5,999)-and-up Ultra.
“Our goal is to position this at pricing that is lower than the Ultra models, so it’s more accessible and has more customers,” Roh said.