It won’t be long before we get an official launch for the Galaxy S25 Edge, which was teased earlier this year at the Galaxy Unpacked event for the S25 series. While I’m as eager as everyone else to learn more about the Galaxy S25 Edge at a rumored April 16 event, I feel like Samsung should be focused on making another one of its phones thinner.
I’m talking about the Galaxy Z Flip, since it has a more compelling reason to shed some thickness. Just look at Motorola’s marketing efforts around its Razr phones — Samsung could easily stir more attention by making its flip-style phone even thinner.
I’m not optimistic that we’ll get exactly this with the Galaxy Z Flip 7, which is expected to launch later this summer. But hey, anything could happen.
Despite this, I still think Samsung should be more focused on slimming down its Galaxy Z Flip series. And you know what? I think it’d be easy to do. Here’s why.
Foldable designs are still bolder
There’s still debate around how thin the Galaxy S25 Edge will be, but it’s tipped to come in at about 6.4mm (about 0.25 inches). By comparison, the Galaxy S25 is still thicker at 7.2mm (0.28 inches), but the Edge will certainly be much more svelte than the 0.32-inch-thick Galaxy S25 Ultra.
The problem I have with the Galaxy S25 Edge is that it’s just another slate phone. Thinner designs are inherently what successive phones should get, but a foldable phone would still have a more compelling design if it were thinner. For years now, phone makers have been on this trend of making larger phones — and I for one am tired of it. I just want a phone that’s reasonably sized without having to constantly stretch my fingers.
You know what would make a bigger impression? What if Samsung is hiding a secret from all of us with the Galaxy S25 Edge? Based on all the images of the prototype I’ve seen captured of it so far, it looks like another slate phone — but could there be a chance it’s a foldable design? That’s unlikely at this point based on all the leaks, but Samsung could pull a stunt on all of us similar to how Microsoft introduced the Microsoft Surface Book as both a laptop and tablet. Now that would be memorable.
Power efficient chips could yield thinner designs
Based on Qualcomm’s track record, each of its flagship chipsets have consistently delivered better power efficiency than the prior one. The Galaxy Z Flip 7 is tipped to run the same Snapdragon 8 Elite as the current Galaxy S25 series, so that will most likely result in better battery life compared to its predecessor.
Rumors haven’t shed light on the battery capacity of the Z Flip 7, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it were the same as before at 4,000 mAh found on the Galaxy Z Flip 6. That foldable measures in at a thinness of 0.27 inches, but Samsung could easily put in a smaller battery to make it just as thin as the Galaxy S25 Edge — all without heavily impacting the battery life given the power efficiency of the Snapdragon chip.
In our battery benchmark test, the Galaxy Z Flip 6 posted an average battery life of 11 hours and 1 minute, which is more than an hour longer than the previous Z Flip 5. Assuming that Samsung opts for a smaller 3,500 mAh battery, that could be enough to drive the Galaxy Z Flip 7 to reach a thinness of 0.25 inches.
Utility, utility, utility
Out of all the phone designs out there, flip style phones offer the most utility — even more than notebook-style foldables like the Galaxy Z Fold that Samsung also makes. That’s because of how flip phones pack two useful displays: a main one paired with an outer screen. Even though I’ve tried using the Galaxy Z Fold 6 to replace my laptop for a couple of weeks, I really can’t use it much for vlogging or self recordings because I haven’t come across any phone holders that could hold them when opened.
That’s not a problem for flip-style phones like the Galaxy Z Flip 6 and probably for the upcoming Z Flip 7 as well. I could just keep the phone closed and still use its rear cameras with the outer screen to shoot those kinds of videos. There’s also the ability to better take long exposure photos at nighttime by folding a flip-style phone halfway so that the phone acts as its own tripod.
What I’m getting at here is that flip phones offer much more utility than your typical slate, which is more reason why I’d like Samsung to focus more efforts at making an existing phone thinner, rather than introducing yet another phone to the mix.
There are absolute challenges at making flip-style phones thinner, like how a thinner frame could impact their durability and the fact that foldables are typically more expensive to make. Still, I would be more impressed to take out an incredibly thin phone from my pocket that could fold in half.
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