Apple, Samsung Report Underwhelming Sales of Their New Thin Smartphones (macrumors.com) 79
In two separate reports, Apple and Samsung are said to report underwhelming sales of their new ultra-thin smartphones. According to The Elec, Apple plans to cut production of the iPhone Air while Samsung has canceled its planned Galaxy S26 Edge smartphone after disappointing sales of the Galaxy S25 Edge, Korea's NewsPim claims. MacRumors reports: Samsung apparently halted work on the Galaxy S26 Edge this week, informing employees internally that the product line would be discontinued. Internal discussions in September shifted priorities toward the more conventional "Plus" form factor after confirming that consumer demand for ultra-slim flagships was weaker than expected. [...]
Samsung will apparently instead add a Galaxy S26 Plus model to its 2026 lineup, reverting to the company's traditional three-tier structure of base, Plus, and Ultra variants. Despite the cancellation, development of the Galaxy S26 Edge was already complete. Development of the S26 Plus is expected to begin before the end of the third quarter of 2025. The atmosphere inside the company is said to be "chaotic" and "embarrassed" following the sudden lineup revision. Samsung reportedly plans to sell through existing inventory of the Galaxy S25 Edge and cease further production once stock is depleted. As for Apple's iPhone Air, here's what MacRumors is reporting: The Japanese investment banking and securities firm claims that the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are seeing higher sales than their predecessors during the same period last year, while the standard iPhone 17 is a major success, performing significantly better than the iPhone 16.
The iPhone Air is apparently the outlier; Apple plans to reduce production by one million units this year. Meanwhile, Apple plans to increase production of all other models by two million units. The overall production forecast of the iPhone 17 series this year has also been increased from 88 million units to 94 million units for the start of 2026.
Samsung will apparently instead add a Galaxy S26 Plus model to its 2026 lineup, reverting to the company's traditional three-tier structure of base, Plus, and Ultra variants. Despite the cancellation, development of the Galaxy S26 Edge was already complete. Development of the S26 Plus is expected to begin before the end of the third quarter of 2025. The atmosphere inside the company is said to be "chaotic" and "embarrassed" following the sudden lineup revision. Samsung reportedly plans to sell through existing inventory of the Galaxy S25 Edge and cease further production once stock is depleted. As for Apple's iPhone Air, here's what MacRumors is reporting: The Japanese investment banking and securities firm claims that the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are seeing higher sales than their predecessors during the same period last year, while the standard iPhone 17 is a major success, performing significantly better than the iPhone 16.
The iPhone Air is apparently the outlier; Apple plans to reduce production by one million units this year. Meanwhile, Apple plans to increase production of all other models by two million units. The overall production forecast of the iPhone 17 series this year has also been increased from 88 million units to 94 million units for the start of 2026.
no shit? (Score:5, Insightful)
Size does in a phone but below a certain threshold thickness is irrelevant.
Imagine trying to stuff something the size of an A4 sheet of paper, but rigid into your pocket. Maybe if only it was 50gsm not 80 it would be comfortable...
Below a certain point, the curvature of you against a flat, rigid phone accounts for as much effective thickness as the phone.
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The squeezing down of the motherboard is pretty much a solved problem, in the sense that it's always been the thinnest part behind the screen. But it probably is what is driving the thin mania.
The issue with it is that you can not easily add a battery on top of the motherboard. Even the biggest brickphones don't really do that. At a bare minimum that would require multiple batteries, or a single one of too much complexity. And most of the available space on top of the motherboard would disproportinately be
Re:no shit? (Score:5, Funny)
They basically have a viral marketing campaign against their phone going on.
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Thinness in phones is an anti-feature that breaks "form follows function". Thinness denies battery capacity (what users really want) while making devices more fragile and harder to grip. Phone thinness became absurd about 12 years ago.
Now the market might finally be catching on.
Re: no shit? (Score:2)
Form stopped following function at Apple with the Apple III and has not been seen since.
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What's worrying is that they all seem to have stalled when it comes to things people really care about - better cameras, better batteries. Google is the same, the Pixel line used to be about the best cameras in the industry, but the last few years they have stalled with only marginal improvements.
Only the Chinese brands seem to be innovating now, with massive camera sensors and better optics, and new battery chemistry to fit more energy into the same space.
Small and Sturdy, duh (Score:5, Insightful)
Manufacturers won't make them any more because they want you to have to replace your broken thin, flimsy phablet as often as possible.
Don't be a sheep, don't by thin phablets, force the manufacturers to make small, sturdy phones that can survive daily life, without a case.
Re:Small and Sturdy, duh (Score:4, Funny)
Sensible people want small, sturdy phones they can put in their back pockets *without a case* and that have enough internal padding to survive a 2m drop onto concrete.
Manufacturers won't make them any more because they want you to have to replace your broken thin, flimsy phablet as often as possible.
Your wish has been granted!
They're called "featurephones" and (many) resemble early 2000's cellphones.
For someone wanting a smartphone, a good case goes a long way. I've dropped my iPhone 14 onto pavement several times with zero damage.
Re: Small and Sturdy, duh (Score:3)
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TIL!
Thank you internet stranger!
Re: Small and Sturdy, duh (Score:2)
Re: Small and Sturdy, duh (Score:4, Funny)
Everyone I know who's a back pocketer, has a cracked screen. Nice job, idiots.
Front pocket, FTW !
Re: Small and Sturdy, duh (Score:2)
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"Everyone I know who's a back pocketer, has a cracked screen."
Then they put a thin, fragile phablet there. Nice job, idiots.
Small and sturdy in the back pocket, FTW !
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Front pocket exposes your thin fragile, phablet and any male genitalia you possess to unwanted forces.
Re: Small and Sturdy, duh (Score:4, Insightful)
Agree. Front pocket. Easier access, less likely for someone else to take my phone too.
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Nah, why would I want to put a phone in a back pocket? Can't sit down then, it's uncomfortable, makes for a blocky ass and it's prone to fall out. Front pocket it is.
In many cities it is a self-solving problem: someone will soon take the phone from your back pocket, making you much more comfortable in the seat department. However you will be less satisfied in the telephony department as you now need to buy a new phone.
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This. Before they started putting stupid glass backs on iPhones, they were pretty robust. I had a 5 and 7 and abused them without a case. The aluminium got extremely scratched up, but they didn't break. One month into having a 13 without a case and the rear glass shattered. I don't even know how, I just noticed a big crack in it one day. It probably came from just sitting with it in my back pocket.
So now I use a case. And, frankly, at that point I don't care about the industrial design anymore. I actually q
Re:Small and Sturdy, duh (Score:4, Interesting)
Indeed. I have never cared about the "aesthetics" of a freaking smartphone. It is just a rectangle. Who cares? I just want what most people probably want- something fast, reliable, easy to use, and with great battery life at a decent price. "Thinning" a phone to death works against almost all those objectives.
Every phone I get goes into a thin black case, so I don't give a damn what the actual phone looks like, what the case is made of, how shiny the buttons are. I look at the screen. And even that is rare, because I use my ROUND smartwatch most of the time, anyway.
And yes, I still want my headphone jack and SD card back. Pretty soon there will probably be no USB port, no volume buttons, and no power button. We have seen how well having no physical controls works in cars...
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The best design of a smartphone like the air, I've seen, was what HTC had (think it was the Desire) -- it was made from CNC machined aluminum, and it had a form factor similar to the iPhone Air with the camera bump sticking outwards. However, the phone never saw a case in its life, and worked for a good while without issues. It took some engineering so the antennas could get a signal though the metal, but overall, it was an excellent phone... and I wish HTC could get back into the smartphone market, becau
Padding isn't the problem (Score:3, Interesting)
So the OnePlus 13r I have is a giant brick compared to my old Motorola which was mostly made of plastic.
I could drop my Motorola on concrete and it's fine but it feels like what I've got now it's going to shatter into a million pieces if I drop it on cheap carpeting because that's physics for you. It's also annoyin
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Sensible people want small, sturdy phones they can put in their back pockets *without a case* and that have enough internal padding to survive a 2m drop onto concrete.
Lots of sensible people put their phone in their cargo pants pocket or their coat pocket. And they've got a wallet case wrapped around it so they only need to remember one item, not two.
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The Xcover 6 is too big for me.
The Xcover 5 looks good size-wise but reviews say its UI is too slow to be comfortably usable. Any experience with that ?
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The Sonim XP10 is a bit pricey - if my pockets were that deep, I wouldn't need a small phone. Boom-tish.
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The irony here of course is that the Air is the most durable iPhone ever made; far from flimsy.
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Sensible people want small, sturdy phones they can put in their back pockets *without a case* and that have enough internal padding to survive a 2m drop onto concrete.
Manufacturers won't make them any more because they want you to have to replace your broken thin, flimsy phablet as often as possible.
Don't be a sheep, don't by thin phablets, force the manufacturers to make small, sturdy phones that can survive daily life, without a case.
This... except being dumb enough to put it in your back pocket. It's stupidly easy to pickpocket anything from there and the pickpockets know it. It's like a huge neon sign that says "Please Rob Me".
I want a reasonably priced phone that has a tough screen (gorilla glass) no bigger than 6.5" and a headphone jack. Doesn't need to be particularly powerful, good battery life is a bonus but not essential, but these days you can't even find an expensive phone like that. Instead we're being pushed into expensiv
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I have never had a phone stolen in 20 years of keeping mine in my back pocket and living in cities where pickpocketing is rampant.
The dumb people are those who inconvenience themselves out of misplaced fear.
--
Calling someone "dumb" only means you cannot rationally rebut their argument.
Phones are already too thin (Score:2)
What do you need? A phone as thin as a blade?
Put some extra battery in it,, even if it makes it slightly thicker, so it can last a day of heavy use.
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Wrong dimension (Score:5, Insightful)
I couldn't care less about shaving 2mm off an 11mm thick phone.
But a phone with a good CPU and battery life that is only 5"? Take my fucking money.
I can't stand these phablets that have taken over. Bring back the 7" tablet form factor and get rid of all the giant phones.
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Sounds like you might be in the market for a Moto G. Not so big, plenty of power, battery lasts 3 days on a charge.
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I did have the 1st gen moto g and it was the perfect size at 4.5", but it is sadly outdated to use now.
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My last phone was a moto G (2017) and it was the perfect size at 5.2". I just recently had to replace it with a (second hand) pixel device, not because I wanted one (I wanted another Moto G, but they're 7" now) but because it's (just) pocketable at 6.1". "Small" smartphones seem to not exist anymore. I don't care at all about "thin" phones either. I just want an android phone that fits comfortably in my front pocket and has 2+ days of battery. The Zenfone would have worked, but is expensive and att
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One of the reasons why phone makers say that customers "demand" bigger phones, isn't that. It is because the push for more RAM/CPU/etc. means more cooling issues, and the best way to deal with that is a larger phone for heat transfer. The vapor chambers do help, and some Android gaming phones even have fans or use electrostatic methods for moving air, but there is only so much cooling one can do with a small form factor.
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As long as the phone is sufficiently thin, I don't really care about additional thinness. I'd much rather optimize the other two spatial dimensions.
The phablet trend is annoying. Most options are oversized. For me, the phone needs to fit comfortably in my left front pocket in a way such that (after getting used to it) I don't really notice it's there, and I must be able to grab it and hold it comfortably with my left hand plus use my left thumb to unlock it while holding. It needs to work in rain and snow c
In another world! (Score:2)
What I fundamentally don't get ... (Score:3)
... Is why the big players do not offer outdoor/rugged versions of their phones. They'd make a fortune, like apple with the apple watch ultra. I'd have started this 10 years about at least.
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I vaguely recall caterpillar (CAT) made one in the earlier days of smartphones, super rugged!
I like big phones and I cannot lie (Score:5, Interesting)
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The iPhone and iPhone Pro are double the thickness of the iPhone Air and do give you a lot more battery life- so you do have a choice.
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Battery life thickness (Score:2)
They're listening to the wrong focus groups. (Score:5, Interesting)
They're either enlisting and listening to the wrong focus groups, or they're somehow measuring the wrong thing
Maybe a slice of the population is super concerned on how fashionable their phones are, but most people want tougness and longevity. At least the people I hang out with and work with.
Focus Groups is what got you the Pontiac Aztek, a car designed by committee and vetted by focus groups, and beloved by exactly none.
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They are only thin if you let the reality distortion field erase the camera bump. Sour grapes from Apple haters aren't always wrong.
If they (or Samsung for that matter) went all in on thin, it would have been a better fashion statement. Compromise on the camera even more.
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A possible difference is that the drift toward SUV dominance is a result of malignant regulation that unfairly penalized small cars, regular cars, big cars, and basically everything but SUVs. So I think people still hate compact SUVs just as much as they did when the Aztek was launched, it's just that now, there are no viable alternatives left like ther
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There are still things that would be nice to have in a phone. A hardware keyboard is one of those. Especially when doing Linux tty work and having more buttons available. I do agree about removable batteries and a MicroSD card slot, perhaps two, one for additional storage, one for backups... actual physical backups with encryption that can be placed in a drawer.
As time progressed, phones lost all their unique qualities, pretty much. Now all we see is more geebees, better cameras... and of course, more h
the ugliness of the aztec (Score:2)
> Here 25 years later, the market is flooded with
>"compact SUVs" essentially the same as the
>Aztek, and just as ugly.
That's not fair.
The modern ones don't even *approach* the Aztec's level of ugliness! But they *are* painfully bland.
the first time I saw an Aztec, my immediate reaction was surprise that AMC was making cars again. It didn't occur to me that anyone else could make something so hideous!
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The overwhelming majority of people are happy with the standard phones from Apple and Samsung- it's just the ultra-slim versions that aren't selling well- and they haven't stopped making one for the other.
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Yup. And those people prefer one OS or the other, and don't actually care that much about how the phone looks because it's in a case all the time.
The problem for these companies is - smartphones became feature-complete quite a few years ago, but the companies aren't content will selling people a new one every five or six years. So they have to "innovate" with features the large majority of people don't particularly care about, but do get noticed by the fanbois.
Curious (Score:2)
Case? (Score:1)
What difference does it make once you put a protective case on it?
Do some people actually use phones without cases? How can you do that unless you live in a rubber room?
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I use a case because it makes the phone less slippery and easier to grip. The breakage protection is just an extra.
I like the UAE Monarch Pro case.
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What difference does it make once you put a protective case on it?
Do some people actually use phones without cases? How can you do that unless you live in a rubber room?
Some people do not use a phone case. The monsters.
https://youtu.be/q4yIWg_LElc?s... [youtu.be]
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A rubber room isn't necessary.
I have never used a case. I have had a smart phone for well more than 10 years. I broke the glass once, taking a picture from above my head level, I dropped the phone onto the street (I blame the design of that phone, the iPhone 6s, which was not that easy to hold... I was glad when they went back to square edges).
Probably the cost of cases over that same period would have exceeded the cost of the one glass replacement (or at least have been similar). I get the benefit of a lig
Wrong dimension.. (Score:2)
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Because it didn't actually sell very well. You may want a smaller screen size on your phone but the majority of people don't.
Re: Wrong dimension.. (Score:2)
When thinness is the only tool in your box (Score:2)
"influencers" citing other "influencers" (Score:2)
"Sources familiar with the situation" make shit up all the time. Apple production numbers and expectations are tightly held, but people still believe "media influencers" who look around and say "Huh, we can collect clicks by generating some FUD around Apple." In this case, we see is one "media influencer" citing another "media influencer" using their "proprietary algorithms" (usually involving rectal sampling.)
When you're in a yearly production cycle, there's ALWAYS production cuts after the product relea
Give me phone with a back flush with the camera (Score:1)
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It does not surprise me (Score:2)
Um... Price? (Score:2)
I'm going out on a limb here but I think people need to spend on food vs. an expensive flagship phone.
No? Just me? Ok...
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So here I am still happy with my iPhone 11.
I have other more interesting things planned for my money, such as a nice home milling machine and some steam stationary engines to build, one for each of my grandkids.
Oh, and also I and many others around the world are boycotting US goods and services because of Adolf Sh!tler
I DO get to vote in the USA...with my wallet, and other countries are seeing my $$.
I HATE thin phones (Score:2)
Give me a thick-ass phone with a month-long battery life and a derpy potato camera.
Phone app altered in Samsung phones (Score:2)
Samsung has altered the default phone app so that it can not block calls not in your phone book. This is to 'encourage' you to sign up for their Galaxy Store to download a 'working' phone app. They are scum and I am not surprised at all that their sales are suffering.
Additionally, the only models that allow external storage and wired headphones have very slow processors that are unable to provide a smooth experience performing even the smallest/easiest tasks.