With the Galaxy S25 Slim reportedly in development, Samsung seems to be saying that any phone Apple makes can be made thinner. And if the rumored addition to Samsung's Galaxy S25 lineup arrives next year, as leaked sources have suggested, 2025 could be a big year for slimmer phones.

We have already heard reports that Apple is working on an iPhone 17 Slim - potentially called the iPhone Air - that would join the iPhone 17 lineup in the fall of 2025. But now reports have surfaced that Samsung is developing its own thin phone, which could launch months earlier than Apple's version.

Right now, details about the Galaxy S25 Slim are pretty... Hmmm... thin, but some reported specs are starting to come into focus. Below is what we know about the Galaxy S25 Slim at this early stage and what we might be able to compare to the iPhone 17 Slim when both models appear next year.

It is widely expected that Samsung will hold a Galaxy Unpacked event early in 2025, perhaps as early as January, to show off the new Galaxy S25 model. After all, last year's Galaxy S24 launch event was held in mid-January, and Samsung is trying to close the gap between its annual flagship model update and the arrival of the new iPhone the previous fall.

Nevertheless, if the Galaxy S25 Slim is in Samsung's plans, it is not likely to appear with other S25 models like the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Instead, Samsung's slim phone will appear later this year.

How much later? One report states that the phone will arrive in June 2025, based on when the phone's reported model number appeared in GSMA's IMEI database. According to Smartprix, the source of this report, Samsung tends to enter model numbers into its database six to seven months before the phone's arrival.

Another leaker posting on X as @Jukanlosreve gives an earlier date, predicting an April launch. However, no basis for that date is given.

If it seems puzzling that Samsung would stagger the launch of the main Galaxy S25 lineup with the launch of the new Slim model, it may help to think of the rumored phone as a device we know well, the Galaxy S25 FE. Samsung routinely releases the FE version of its latest flagship a few months after the original phone's debut.

This was the claim made by Korean publication The Elec in October when it reported that the Galaxy S25 FE would be announced as a slimmer version of the S25 model. The Elec reported, “Unlike the three Galaxy S25 series that will be released early next year, the FE model still has a product development period,” according to an article translated from the Korean original.

But even if it launches in June, the Galaxy S25 Slim will be available much earlier than the typical FE from Samsung. The Galaxy S24 FE just started shipping in October, nearly nine months after the rest of the S24 lineup hit the market.

Another idea is that a slim phone from Samsung would be an experiment on the company's part, with ETNews reporting that Samsung would test market interest by producing the Galaxy S25 Slim in limited quantities. If enough people buy it, the report continues, Samsung will incorporate the slim flagship into its Galaxy S26 lineup in 2026.

This type of limited edition phone is not out of character for Samsung. Just last month, the company announced a special edition of the Galaxy Z Fold 6, which is thinner and lighter than the version released simultaneously worldwide in the summer. However, the launch of this special edition is so far limited to South Korea.

Missing from any coverage of the Galaxy S25 Slim is one important detail.

The Galaxy S24 FE, considered the Slim's predecessor, is 8 mm thin, slightly thinner than the 7.6 mm Galaxy S24. Presumably, the goal is to get it closer to the 5 mm of the Galaxy Z Fold 6. It is 6 mm thin when deployed.

For reference, the iPhone 16 is 7.8 mm thin, and early reports on the iPhone 17 Slim suggest that it is trying to rival devices like the current iPad Air (6.1 mm) and iPad Pro (5.3 mm) in terms of thinness

Galaxy Note: The iPad Pro is a thin, lightweight, and compact device.

As for the Galaxy S25 Slim's display, the only rumor out there so far is that it will be comparable to the Galaxy S24 FE's 6.7-inch panel.

It is unclear whether the thinner dimensions of the Galaxy S25 Slim will force Samsung to limit the number of cameras on the device. Apple's iPhone 17 Slim will reportedly feature a single rear camera as an apparent concession to limited space.

One camera rumor surrounding the S25 Slim suggests that Samsung wants to go bigger in some respects. The new phone is said to have a 200MP main lens and will have the same camera specifications as the Galaxy S24 Ultra. The just-released Galaxy Z Fold 6 Special Edition also has a 200MP main camera. [It is unclear if the Galaxy S25 Slim will have enough space for an additional lens. But if you want to show what is possible, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is rumored to be upgraded to a 50MP ultra-wide angle lens and a variable aperture telephoto camera. If Samsung intends to make the Slim a premium model (the 200MP main camera suggests that), these improvements could also be in the mix.

Other Galaxy S25 Slim specs are still unclear in early rumors, including which chipset Samsung intends to use for the phone. It is widely believed that Samsung plans to use the Snapdragon 8 Elite for the rest of the Galaxy S25 lineup, and it is almost certain that the S25 Ultra will feature this new silicon. However, if the S25 Slim is as thin as rumored, the heat generated by the Snapdragon 8 Elite could be a problem.

Leakers predicting an April release for the Galaxy S25 Slim predict that the phone will use the Exynos 2400 chipset, the same system-on-chip used in the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24 Plus models released outside North America this year. The company predicts that the phone will use the Exynos 2400 chipset. Rumor has it that Samsung is having problems producing enough 3nm Exynos 2500 to support the phone's launch, hence the idea that phone makers will turn to older chipsets for their 2025 phones.

More details about the Galaxy S25 Slim need to emerge in order to know where this rumored phone fits into Samsung's product lineup, i.e., whether it is a slimmer version of the Ultra or an even more stripped-down FE. Also, what else could it be besides a thinner design?

Assuming reports of a staggered shipping date for this model are correct, there is plenty of time to learn more about the Galaxy S25 Slim, even after the rest of the Galaxy S25 lineup is expected to debut later this year. But between this device and rumors of a new iPhone 17 Slim, it is very clear that the slim will appear in 2025.