We all expected 2025 to be the year of ultra-slim phones. And in a way, it is. Samsung released its contender as the Galaxy S25 Edge, and Apple followed it with the iPhone Air in September.
But the journey doesn't seem to be going very far, at least for these two. Both Apple and Samsung reportedly have very low demand for their ultra-slim model in the market. So much so, Samsung is pulling the plug on the Edge lineup entirely, just after one release.
Still, that doesn't mean the slim-phone experiment is over. According to tipster Digital Chat Station on Weibo, at least two of the top five Chinese manufacturers are now testing ultra-light and ultra-thin designs of their own. And Xiaomi could be one of them.
In a separate leak, tipster Smart Pikachu revealed that Xiaomi might be working on a slim Xiaomi 17 Air.
According to the report, the phone might ship with a 6.6-inch 1.5K display and a 200MP main camera, which even the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max doesn't offer. The leak also points to full eSIM support, with no physical SIM tray at all. This isn't surprising for a slim device where every cubic millimeter of space matters.
If Xiaomi really goes down the ultra-slim path, the result might actually be more practical than what we've seen from the iPhone Air or Galaxy S25 Edge.
Chinese brands have already embraced silicon-carbon battery tech, which allows for packing larger capacities in smaller spaces. We're already seeing the payoff.
The Xiaomi 17 Pro Max, for instance, manages to fit a 7,500mAh battery inside an 8mm frame. So if Xiaomi builds a 6mm-class "Air" model, it's reasonable to expect a battery somewhere just shy of 5,000mAh.
Still, the Xiaomi 17 Air isn't confirmed yet. We will keep you in the loop if we learn new details.