The subsequent huge factor in conventional smartphone design might be a major discount in thickness, one thing we’ve already witnessed with foldable units. It’s occurring subsequent 12 months, with the iPhone 17 Air being the ultra-thin cellphone that retains showing in leaks and rumors.
However we received’t have to attend till September to see an ultra-thin cellphone in motion. Samsung has in all probability heard the rumors, too. Unsurprisingly, a Galaxy S25 Slim is coming. The thinner Galaxy S25 taste might be unveiled at Unpacked if latest rumors are correct. However it may not hit shops till the second quarter of 2025.
By the point the iPhone 17 Air truly launches, Samsung will be capable of brag that it was the primary to launch an ultra-thin, non-foldable flagship cellphone. In fact, this is similar firm that might not make an ultra-thin foldable till this fall.
That mentioned, the Galaxy S25 Slim may prove to have an enormous benefit over the iPhone 17 Air, one which some consumers may admire. The ultra-thin cellphone may characteristic a multi-lens digicam, whereas the iPhone 17 Air is alleged to have only a single rear-facing lens.
I’ve mentioned greater than as soon as that I’m prepared to just accept the downsides of proudly owning an iPhone 17 Air, even when meaning dropping the ultra-wide angle lens within the course of. I’m proud of a single-cam iPhone so long as it’s skinny and has a big show.
Apple might need to ditch additional cameras to cut back the digicam module thickness. Or it would wish to take away a digicam from the module to make room for the battery.
However, Samsung seems to stay with a triple-lens digicam for the Galaxy S25 Slim. Citing info from Meritz Securities, leaker Jukanlosreve says that Samsung will use ALoP know-how on the Galaxy S25 Slim to cut back the dimensions of the digicam bump.
The leaker says the digicam tech is “confirmed” and might be utilized completely to the Galaxy S25 Slim mannequin. Earlier than the leaker’s remarks, we already had speculations that Samsung’s ALoP digicam tech can be used within the ultra-thin Galaxy S25 Slim as a result of it’s the sort of tech that might assist smartphone distributors scale back the dimensions of the digicam bump.
What’s ALoP, precisely? It’s an acronym for All Lenses on Prism digicam know-how, which Samsung introduced in mid-November. ALoP tech permits Samsung to create thinner telephones by thinning the zoom cameras inside a digicam module.
The picture above exhibits what a periscope digicam would seem like inside present telephones. The lenses are all positioned vertically relative to the aircraft of the cellphone. This forces smartphone distributors to extend the cellphone thickness to accommodate the zoom digicam.
The ALoP know-how lets Samsung reposition the zoom digicam’s lenses in a method that doesn’t affect the cellphone’s thickness equally. As you possibly can see within the following picture, the lenses are stacked on high of one another horizontally, in the identical aircraft because the cellphone’s physique. The prism and sensor are each barely shifted on this association.
Samsung additionally provided the next side-by-side picture that exhibits the distinction in dimension between a present folded zoom lens (periscope digicam) and an ALoP lens.
Lastly, the next comparability exhibits what ALoP cameras will do for smartphone design. The digicam module is considerably smaller on the proper, and the zoom digicam seems higher, that includes a round lens fairly than an oblong one.
If the leaker’s declare above is correct and Samsung plans to make use of a periscope zoom lens contained in the Galaxy S25 Slim, the cellphone will in all probability characteristic three cameras. If the iPhone 17 Air sticks with only one digicam on the again, let’s simply say the unhealthy Samsung anti-Apple industrial will write itself.
It’ll be attention-grabbing to see whether or not Samsung makes use of the identical ALoP digicam tech inside different flagship telephones, together with this 12 months’s upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 7.
