Role models: the world's thinnest tablets

Those two will be competing with some formidable opponents in the thinnest tablets lineup, like Apple's iPad Air 2, Dell's Venue 8, and Sony's Xperia Z4 Tablet, as all as its first small slate, the Z3 Tablet Compact. Thus, our ranking of the world's thinnest tablets has now changed significantly, as the new slates clock in at just about quarter of an inch girth. 

A slender tablet is certainly better than a thick one, said Captain Obvious, for looks and ergonomics sake alone, that's why we are rounding up the most anorexic slates out there, with the cutoff now being held at 0.26" (6.5mm), instead of the 0.31" (8mm) mark we had before.

Both clocking in at the same 5.6 mm thickness, Samsung's Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 and Tab S2 9.7 are incredible pieces of craftsmanship with their metallic chassis. The Tab S2 8.0 features an 8-inch Super AMOLED screen with a 1536 x 2048 pixels, while the Tab S2 9.7 is equipped with a 9.7-inch screen with the same resolution. Both models are powered by an octa-core CPU with four cores running at 1.9GHz, and four cores running at 1.3GHz. The tablets have 3GB of RAM inside, along with 32GB/64GB of internal storage. Those requiring more memory can access the 128 GB capacity microSD slot.

Dell's Venue 8 used to be touted as the world’s thinnest tablet, and at just 6mm (under a quarter-inch) thick, there was no argument against that claim. Moreover, all that jazz is built on a metal chassis, lending a modern, industrial look which will fit any décor in the office, living room, purse, or briefcase. The new tablet also packs a 2K resolution 8.4" OLED display, a Moorfield series quad-core Atom CPU, and intriguing tri-camera setup on the back that leverage Intel’s new RealSense Snapshot Depth Camera. The main camera is an 8-megapixel unit, augmented by two auxiliary cameras that gather depth and dimensional data, much like the duo-camera set up on the M8, but also allow measurement calculations and less warped looking 3D effects.

What, Sony again? Yes, dear, Sony's 6.1mm-thin Xperia Z4 Tablet was the second slimmest at launch, before it got relegated to third place with the two Tab S2 launches from Samsung. Sony's craftsmanship is nothing to sniff at, though, so the next in our line is again a Sony - the 6.4mm Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact - which is among the most slender and compact 8-inch slates in the wild. It also tips the scales at merely 9.52 oz (270 g), which makes it as light as a feather. The slate is slightly tall, though, at 8.40” (213.4 mm), yet rather narrow at 4.87” (123.6mm). This makes it an exquisite catwalk star that is not afraid of the water, too, as it is IP65/68-certified, which is one of the highest ingress protection levels. This means that it will survive a water dip for up to 30 minutes in depths of no more than 1.5 meters.