Ultrathin smartphones are failing: iPhone Air fallout and China's pullback

iPhone Air has turned out to be not just a misstep for Apple, but a clear warning to the entire industry. Amid a flurry of reports about sluggish sales of the ultrathin model, Chinese smartphone makers have begun freezing and canceling their own projects in the same vein.

The first sign was hard to miss: iPhone Air remained easy to buy right after launch, while the iPhone 17 Pro quickly sold through among brand loyalists. Then came reports that Apple had sharply scaled back production orders, to the point of near line idling, followed by claims that manufacturing was halted altogether. In parallel, Samsung appeared to run into the same pattern: the Galaxy S25 Edge sold so poorly, reports said, that the company scrapped its next generation.

Now, sources cited by Sina Finance and Jiemian.com say Chinese brands have studied these stumbles and decided to stop chasing extreme thinness. Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, and others have either shut down their Air-style projects or drastically reworked them. Xiaomi’s pullback is especially notable, as it was rumored to be preparing a direct iPhone Air lookalike.

Although Apple traditionally does not disclose sales figures for individual devices, the accumulation of leaks and market signals paints a consistent picture: demand for ultrathin smartphones is simply too weak. Layer in Samsung’s similar troubles and the takeaway becomes clearer—buyers aren’t eager to pay premium prices for extreme thinness when it comes with trade-offs in battery life and functionality.

As a result, a category once pitched as the next big thing looks less like a trend and more like a technological dead end.