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Oppo may have just released the world’s thinnest smartphone with the 4.85mm R5 , but the company’s new-found fame may not last. A trending Weibo post showcasing images of a smartphone by China’s Vivo offers a glimpse at a device that’s just 3.85mm thick.
In one of the published images, the mysterious Vivo device is posed next to an iPhone 5S, making the claim that it’s just one half the width of the 7.6mm-wide Apple device.
Vivo is one of China’s myriad of phone makers, less well known in the US, UK and Australia than major players such as Xiaomi, Oppo and Huawei. It has a history of one-upping its more illustrious rivals though — its Xplay 3S phone was the first to boast a “2K” display, with a 2,560×1,440-pixel resolution.
Vivo has yet to reveal its ludicrously thin smartphone’s specs. But to develop such a thin device, it will have no choice but to sacrifice battery life, a microSD slot and even an audio jack for your headphone — Oppo’s R5 is missing the latter two features.
At a time when all smartphone makers are struggling to differentiate their products, will boasting the thinnest chassis really make a device more competitive? Or will people simply see it as yet another gimmick? Let me know what you think.
