Apple has long chased the holy grail of thinness. “Thinner than any phones we’ve ever made—that took an incredible amount of engineering,” proclaimed Apple’s Phil Schiller while unveiling the 6.9mm-thick iPhone 6 back in 2014. Fast forward to today: Apple is rumored to repeat that feat with an upcoming iPhone 17 “Air” that’s about 2mm slimmer than current models. But with smartphones already wafer-thin, one has to ask – is shaving off a couple more millimeters truly magical, or have we reached the point of diminishing returns? Recent polling and industry voices suggest that ultra-slim phones might not be the straightforward upgrade Apple’s marketing would have us believe.