The following massive factor in conventional smartphone design will probably 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 telephone that retains showing in leaks and rumors.
However we gained’t have to attend till September to see an ultra-thin telephone in motion. Samsung has most likely heard the rumors, too. Unsurprisingly, a Galaxy S25 Slim is coming. The thinner Galaxy S25 taste will probably be unveiled at Unpacked if latest rumors are correct. Nevertheless it won’t 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 telephone. In fact, this is similar firm that would not make an ultra-thin foldable till this fall.
That mentioned, the Galaxy S25 Slim would possibly prove to have an enormous benefit over the iPhone 17 Air, one which some consumers would possibly admire. The ultra-thin telephone would possibly function 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 simply accept the downsides of proudly owning an iPhone 17 Air, even when which means shedding 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.
Alternatively, Samsung seems to stay with a triple-lens digicam for the Galaxy S25 Slim. Citing data from Meritz Securities, leaker Jukanlosreve says that Samsung will use ALoP expertise on the Galaxy S25 Slim to cut back the scale of the digicam bump.
The leaker says the digicam tech is “confirmed” and will probably be utilized solely to the Galaxy S25 Slim mannequin. Earlier than the leaker’s remarks, we already had speculations that Samsung’s ALoP digicam tech could be used within the ultra-thin Galaxy S25 Slim as a result of it’s the sort of tech that might assist smartphone distributors cut back the scale of the digicam bump.
What’s ALoP, precisely? It’s an acronym for All Lenses on Prism digicam expertise, 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 appear like inside present telephones. The lenses are all positioned vertically relative to the airplane of the telephone. This forces smartphone distributors to extend the telephone thickness to accommodate the zoom digicam.
The ALoP expertise lets Samsung reposition the zoom digicam’s lenses in a approach that doesn’t influence the telephone’s thickness equally. As you possibly can see within the following picture, the lenses are stacked on prime of one another horizontally, in the identical airplane because the telephone’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 measurement 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 best, and the zoom digicam appears higher, that includes a round lens moderately 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 telephone will most likely function 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 fascinating 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.
