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The iPhone Air is slimmer than the competition, though has been beaten

It’s taken Apple 11 years to beat its own record, but the iPhone Air is now the thinnest iPhone ever, a record previously held by the iPhone 6 from way back in 2014.

At 5.6mm, the iPhone Air is also slimmer than any of the current Android competition, though isn’t the thinnest phone ever launched …

Macworld’s David Price rounded up the past and present competition, alongside a few more, uh, whimsical comparisons.

The closest of the current competition is the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge at 5.8mm. Google isn’t even in the competition at present, its thinnest phone dating back to the Pixel 2 in 2017 at 7.8mm.

However, it’s not the thinnest phone we’ve ever seen. Price found three older smartphones that are even thinner than the iPhone Air.

Motorola Moto Z (5.2mm). Some people have forgotten this exceptionally slender device, possibly because it came out back in 2016.

Oppo R5 (4.9 mm). This came out in 2014, the same year as the iPhone 6.

vivo X5Max (4.8mm). The thinnest non-folding phone I’ve been able to find, at a frankly ludicrous 4.8mm, also came out in 2014! What a year for thin phones.

Price excludes folding phones which are thinner when unfolded, and I agree with his reasoning there. Thickness matters when it’s in your pocket, not when it’s in use. But if you disagree, then the joint winners are the Honor Magic V5 and the Oppo Find N5, each at just 4.2mm thick.

Paperback novels and slices of bread can’t compete, according to Price’s research.

Highlighted accessories

Photo: Vivo/Amazon

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Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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