With the iPhone Slim model coming to market in 2025, Samsung & other competitors are racing to get ahead of Apple
When rumors surfaced about Apple developing a "Slim" iPhone design, Android phone makers went to work immediately in order to beat Apple to market. It's been reported that Samsung may introduce a slim model Galaxy smartphone on Wednesday at their Galaxy Unpacked 2025 event. However, it will reportedly be limited to the S. Korean market initially, according to Gizmochina quoting Evan Blass.
Today in a second report, Gizmochina reports that Chinese smartphone vendor Oppo will be releasing a foldable phone that when opened will be about half the thickness of the iPhone 16 Pro as presented in the image below.
Zhou Yibao, Oppo’s product manager for the Find N series, posted some jaw-dropping images on Weibo that showcase the Find N5’s slim profile. For context, the iPhone 16 Pro measures 8.3 mm. Officially, the upcoming Oppo foldable is being marketed as the world’s thinnest foldable, and these teasers make that claim hard to dispute.
Oppo has been teasing the device in China, where it’s expected to launch as early as February. The possible announcement may come a bit later for global fans, while rumors say that the teaser may be unveiled at the MWC in March.
While Samsung's Galaxy Slim smartphone model may be a real competitor in the new "Slim" category of smartphone, Oppo is playing smoke and mirrors considering that Oppo could spread out components on both sides of the foldable phone. So comparing it to the candy bar styled iPhone is simply marketing voodoo.
Will more vendors announce slim models of their respective smartphones in 2025? While only time will tell, there's no doubt that Samsung and Chinese vendors cling on to every rumor about upcoming features coming to future iPhone models so that they could duplicate it ahead of an Apple announcement. In this case, rumors of the iPhone Slim gave the competition time enough to race and make a copycat form factor, hurting Apple's market surprise. Prior to the rumors, there were no Android smartphone vendor forecasting a "Slim" model for 2025.