In recent months, there has been a lot of buzz about the so-called iPhone 17 Air, a far slimmer version of Apple’s flagship smartphone. And Apple is not alone; Samsung is reportedly working on a Galaxy S25 Slim phone to compete with Apple’s offering. However, both gadgets may have a significant disadvantage, which stems entirely from their form factors.
According to Weibo leaker Digital Chat Station (via Notebookcheck), the iPhone and Samsung phones will be approximately 5-6mm thick. When compared to 7.8mm for the iPhone 16 and 7.6mm for the Samsung Galaxy S24, the new phones will be significantly thinner.
But all of that slimness comes at a cost, according to Digital Chat Station. According to its post, the cost will be reflected in the device’s batteries, which will range in capacity from 3,000mAh to 4,000mAh.
At first glance, that may not appear to be a major issue; after all, the batteries in the iPhone 16 and Samsung Galaxy S24 are already inside that range. But the concern here is that the slimmer bodies of the next phones may make heat dissipation more difficult.
Heat can shorten battery life, so if the super-slim chassis retains more heat than their regular-sized counterparts, you may find yourself reaching for the charging wire more frequently.
Feeling the heat
The high-end CPUs that we expect to see within these phones contribute to the situation. The iPhone 17 Air is expected to include Apple’s A19 processor, while Samsung’s S25 Slim could be furnished with the Snapdragon 8 Elite. While these chips are extremely powerful (or are expected to be in the case of the unreleased A19), keeping them cool in such thin devices may prove tricky.
However, both Apple’s CPUs and their Snapdragon counterparts are known to be extremely efficient and capable of delivering excellent performance without overheating, so the battery impact may not be as severe as previously thought. For starters, it appears doubtful that Apple would manufacture a phone that does not have what it calls “all-day battery life” such is the prevalence of that phrase at Apple’s recent launches.
Still, we anticipate that thinner casings will present a slew of engineering issues, including heat dissipation and its impact on battery life, so we’ll have to wait and see if there’s a perceptible difference when the phones launch this year.
Another interesting result of the launching of these gadgets is that it may encourage other phone manufacturers to increase the battery capacity of their own handsets. Digital Chat Station reports that certain Android phone makers are considering launching phones with battery capacities of 5,000mAh or greater. That means that if battery life is essential to you, you should keep an eye out for new phone launches in the coming year.
