5 of the thinnest Android smartphones currently available

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Thinner by the year, that's how smartphones seem to have evolved since forever. However, although smartphone makers seem to have always considered thinness an important marketing point, some say that the matter has been blown out of proportion over the past couple of years, and looking at the thinness of current-generation flagships, this assumption seems to hold water.

As much as many of you might despise the latest thinness trend, it should be noted that, at least in theory, the smartphone market evolves to cater to the desires of the consumers. Pushing this train of thought to the extremes, some could even argue that the consumers are the ones who have created this trend, and that only the consumers can stop or reverse it.

In practice, chances are that the truth lays somewhere in the middle. Some consumers want thinner smartphones, some don't. If you're one of the former, you might want to check out this list of the 5 best high-end Android smartphones that come with extreme thinness.

Huawei P8


Huawei's latest flagship, the all-metal P8, comes with a thickness of just 6.4mm. However, as you'll find out by the end of this article, the Huawei P8 is a bit bulky compared to the other smartphones on this list.

The Huawei P8 comes with specs such as a 5.2-inch IPS LCD panel running a resolution of 1080 by 1920 pixels, a octa-core Kirin 930/935 chipset, 3GB of RAM, 16GB or 64GB of integrated storage space, a microSD card slot, and a non-removable 2680mAh battery. A high-end smartphone through and through, the Huawei P8 comes with a 13MP primary camera and an 8MP secondary shooter on the front.

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For a more detailed analysis of the handset, make sure to check out our full Huawei P8 review.



Samsung Galaxy A8


Samsung latest smartphone, the Galaxy A8 is not only a slick-looking all-metal phablet, but it's quite a thin handset as well. In fact, at 5.9mm across the waist, the Galaxy A8 is Samsung's thinnest smartphone to date.

Although compact relative to the size of its display, the Galaxy A8 is the largest handset in Samsung Galaxy A series, featuring a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED panel running at 1080 by 1920 pixels.

Under the hood ticks a 1.5GHz octa-core Snapdragon 615 (the mid-range chip option from Qualcomm) paired with 2GB of RAM. The phone also comes with either 16GB or 32GB of microSD-expandable internal storage space. Interestingly, despite being the thinnest smartphone that Samsung made this far, the Galaxy A8 integrates a sizeable 3050mAh battery, meaning that the size of the display will not negatively impact the handset's battery life.

In the camera department, the Samsung Galaxy A8 comes with a 16MP primary camera, and a 5MP wide-angle "selfie" shooter on the front. 



Gionee Elife S7


Chinese manufacturer Gionee has some noteworthy experience with designing and manufacturing ultra-thin smartphones. Although most of you probably have not heard about Gionee, you might have seen one of their smartphones in your home market as well, and that's because multiple companies around the world (such as Blu in the US) rebrand Gionee smartphones.

The Gionee Elife S7 is the most recent slim-racer from the company. The Elife S7 measures just 5.5mm across its waist, comes with a metal frame, as well as Gorilla Glass 3 on both the front and the back.

In terms of specs, the Gionee Elife S7 features a 5.2-inch Super AMOLED panel running at 1080 by 1920 pixels, an octa-core MediaTek 6752 chip with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage (no microSD card slot, unfortunately). The camera setup consists out of a 13MP primary shooter and a 8MP selfie camera on the front.

A 5.2-inch smartphone with a 5.5mm body can't possible integrate a big-enough battery, right? Wrong, the Gionee Elife S7 comes with a 2750mAh battery, meaning that it packs more power than the Galaxy S6 series, albeit only slightly. Check out our Gionee Elife S7 hands-on for more details about the handset.



Vivo X5 Max


Moving further down the slimness rankings we find the Vivo X5 Max, a handset that comes with a thickness of just 5.1mm. Like the Gionee Elife S7, the Vivo X5 Max features a metallic construction.

As far as the specs go, the Vivo X5 Max an upper-midrange handset. The display is a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display running a resolution of 1080 by 1920 pixels, while the heart of the phone is an octa-core Snapdragon 615 chipset paired with 2GB of RAM. Internal storage is limited to 16GB, but you can use the microSD card slot to expand on it.

In the camera department, the Vivo X5 Max is equipped with a 13MP primary shooter and a 5MP secondary shooter. From the looks of it, the battery is the only compromise made by Vivo with the X5 Max, a 2200mAh unit that seems to be seriously underpowered compared to the size and resolution of the display.



Oppo R5


At the moment, the slimmest smartphone in the world is the 4.85mm-thick Oppo R5.

Right of the bat, it should be mentioned that the manufacturer was only able to integrate a 2000mAh battery. Furthermore, 4.85mm did not leave enough space to house a 3.5mm headphone jack, meaning that users will have to use the bundled micro-USB adapter, or a Bluetooth headset.

Those against the slimness trend will surely point out to the R5 as a needlessly-thin smartphone, and at least in some ways, we have to agree.

The remainder of the specs fall pretty much in line with those of other smartphones listed here. The Oppo R5 features a 5.2-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1080 by 1920 pixels, an octa-core Snapdragon 615 chipset paired with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage (no microSD slot).

On the camera side, the Oppo R5 boasts a 13MP primary camera and a 5MP secondary shooter, both with an aperture of f/2.0.


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