Xiaomi had a direct answer to the iPhone Air up its sleeve! It canceled the thin phone, and the CEO's honesty will surprise many

The year 2025 in the world of smartphones brought an unexpected fashion wave — ultra-thin phones. Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, Apple iPhone Air, but also Motorola Edge 70 or Honor Magic 8 Pro Air all went down the “thinner is better” path, although compromises in the form of smaller batteries and thermally constrained hardware were quite noticeable during testing. It turned out that Xiaomi also wanted to be part of this club. But it pulled out at the last minute.

The information comes directly from Xiaomi CEO Lu Weibing, who, in a live broadcast on May 16, answered the question of whether the company plans to launch its own equivalent of the iPhone Air. The answer was unusual in terms of transparency. The phone existed, was almost finished, and Xiaomi canceled it. Shortly thereafter, specifications of the canceled prototype also appeared on Chinese Weibo.

CEO canceled the phone shortly before mass production

According to Lu Weibing, the development of what was unofficially called Xiaomi Air was indeed close to the finish line. The phone had passed the prototype phase and was heading towards mass production. However, engineers then encountered the limitations that ultra-thin designs bring. Specifically, these were battery life and processor thermal management. These are precisely the compromises that reviewers regularly shake their heads at with competing Edge, Air, and similarly thin devices.

Xiaomi ultimately did something rarely seen in today’s industry — it simply said, “not like this.” Instead of launching the phone knowing that some users would be disappointed by how quickly it drains or overheats, it halted development. For a company that otherwise mindlessly pushes out one model after another and often releases responses to competitive waves as a reflex, this is unusual. And actually, quite commendable.

A piquant detail: The Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge has a thickness of 5.8 mm and a battery capacity of only 3900 mAh, while the iPhone Air reached 5.6 mm with a battery around 3000 mAh. Both of these phones did not receive enthusiastic battery life ratings in reviews. Xiaomi therefore clearly saw what the competition in the thin segment was paying for — and decided it would rather release nothing.

The specifications of the canceled Xiaomi were appealing, however

The well-known Chinese leaker Digital Chat Station published the key parameters of the phone based on information from the prototype. And we must admit that if the Xiaomi Air had been released in this configuration, it would have been a truly remarkable piece of hardware:

• 6.59″ display with 1.5K resolution (2712 × 1220 pixels)
• Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor — Qualcomm’s latest flagship chipset
• Dual rear cameras with a main 200Mpx sensor
• Battery with a capacity somewhere between 5000 and 5999 mAh
• Thickness under 6 mm

This is hardware that, at a flagship price, could compete very well. A 5000mAh battery in a 5.x millimeter thickness would even significantly surpass both the iPhone Air and Galaxy S25 Edge. The question is whether this capacity would actually last as a flagship should — Lu Weibing claims it would not.

It’s interesting to note that Apple is reportedly preparing a successor to the iPhone Air, which could be released later this year. So, if the trend of thin flagships continues into 2026, it’s not impossible that Xiaomi might still jump on board — perhaps when it becomes technologically possible to circumvent the compromise in battery life and temperatures.

For domestic customers, this news is interesting primarily as an example that Xiaomi can sometimes say no. Would you find another brand where the CEO publicly admitted that they canceled a phone because customers wouldn’t be satisfied? In an industry where manufacturers compete in marketing superlatives, this is a rare and honest communication. After all, if the flagship thin Xiaomi Air had been released and reviewers had torn it apart due to battery life and overheating, the impact on the brand’s image would have been significantly worse than a quiet death behind the scenes.

Would you buy an ultra-thin phone with worse battery life, or do you prefer the classic format?

Source: Notebookcheck