The Thin Phone Fallacy: Why Apple and Samsung are ignoring the only smartphone rule that matters
Why? As sleek as these devices look, they violate the cardinal rule of smartphone success: "don't give users bad battery life!"
Poor battery life is the capital sin of the mobile world. We've seen this movie just a few years ago, with the 2020 iPhone 12 mini. The world loved its compact size, but nobody could live with the constant battery anxiety. Not surprisingly, Apple killed it after just two generations.
Remember the not so distant days of 'wall huggers' just scanning every room they go into for a power outlet? Or that one friend who turned their bag in more than just a bag — a mobile charging station, tangled with cables and bulky power banks. Those were NOT happy times.
And Apple's idea in 2025? An iPhone 17 Air with a 2,800 mAh battery.
Well, the thin phone formula in 2025 might be different than the mini one, but leads to the same dead end: a sleek-looking phone with a battery that dies by... 5pm.
The light weight is a nice trick—you might forget the phone is in your pocket. But the moment you start using it, there's still no escaping the reality of the big physical size. A thin phone with a big screen is still a big phone, and it won't win over anyone who misses truly compact devices.
A New Path is Possible
While Apple and Samsung try super slim phones, OnePlus tries super-battery phones (Image by OnePlus)
At the same time, other parts of the industry are proving there's a better way. What if a compact phone could have... incredible battery life?
This isn't a fantasy, even if it may sound like one. Brands like OnePlus are showing that you don't have to choose between a manageable size and a massive battery.
Take the OnePlus 13s (aka OnePlus 13T), a 6.3-inch phone, same size as the compact iPhone 16 Pro or Pixel 9 Pro. However, thanks to clever engineering and different priorities, OnePlus includes a 5,850 mAh battery inside that phone. And this is not even one of those cutting-edge silicon-carbon batteries, it's just a regular cell (the Chinese-bound 13T model uses silicon-carbon and comes with an even higher 6,200mAh capacity).
This is proof that a compact phone can have amazing battery. It is proof that settings different priorities can yield much better results for the end user.
So why are Apple and Samsung ignoring this? Is it a genuine design obsession, or are they simply unwilling to build a smaller phone with a great battery because... it might threaten the fat profit margins of their "Pro Max" and 'Ultra' behemoths? I'll just leave this question here for you to ponder.
The other weak spot: performance
iFixit teardown shows Samsung was desparate to add at least some cooling to this design (Image by iFixit)
I usually wouldn't care too much about performance (most flagship phones these days are powerful enough), but a recent iFixit teardown of the Galaxy S25 Edge reveals just how desperate Samsung was in its attempt to introduce at least some cooling to the 5.8 mm thin design of the phone.
A CT scan of the S25 Edge reveals how the vapor chamber directs heat to... the cell itself. This is not uncommon, but it results in higher temperatures hitting the battery not just during charging, but also even with just average use. The result is your battery getting exposed to temperatures way above the recommended 30°C, and ultimately, not only worse battery life, but faster battery degradation. Talk about a double whammy.
Power users and gamers will also notice this with heavy workloads, but that is not even my first concern here as even the regular user can feel it.
An inevitable encounter with reality
Whatever the reason, the market is brutally practical. No amount of marketing glamor or launch-day hype can save a phone that dies before dinner.
Imagine you're on a once-in-a-lifetime trip, hiking for hours to reach the perfect sunset spot. You take out your phone and… the screen is black. All of that sleek design is totally worthless at that moment. Or even worse, imagine relying on that phone to navigate back home.
A super-slim flagship with an inflated price and a mediocre battery isn't just a bad product; it's a fundamental misunderstanding of what people want from a device they depend on.
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