This was supposed to be the year for ultrathin smartphones, with Apple and Samsung both debuting their thinnest flagships ever, the Galaxy S25 Edge and iPhone Air. Seemingly breaking the boundaries of physics, both phones feature razor-thin chassis packed with the usual high-performance chips, sensors, and storage. However, instead of hailing a new era of uber-thin tech, recent sales paint a much more dismal picture for the emerging phone category.

When ‘thin’ is ‘too thin’

At first glance, the Galaxy S25 Edge and iPhone Air are both stunning. Measuring just 5.8mm (0.22in) thick for the Samsung contender and 5.6mm (0.22in.) thick from Apple, they are manufacturing marvels, packing all of their important components into impossibly small frames — a feat that simply wasn’t possible several years ago.

Both phones are also surprisingly durable, with the Galaxy S25 Edge and iPhone Air passing JerryRigEverything’s famous torture test. Unfortunately, while these phones are impressive to see and hold, their shortcomings are too big to ignore.

It’s hard to convince folks to spend so much money on a phone that does less.

The first big downside is battery life. There’s only so much battery that can fit inside a 0.22-inch body, and with dated lithium-ion tech still the powerhouse of choice, it’s no wonder that these ultrathin phones struggle to get through a day of mild to heavy use on a single charge. The Galaxy S25 Edge reportedly ran for 12 hours and 38 minutes in Tom’s Guide’s battery test, and the iPhone Air netted 12 hours and 2 minutes in the same test. To compare, that’s about five hours less battery life than the Ultra/Max versions, respectively.

The second major drawback is the camera system. Both phones have fewer camera modules than their Pro counterparts, and they’re also missing the hybrid zoom features found in the flagship versions. So if you’re a photographer who wants the best camera on a smartphone, Galaxy Edge and iPhone Air are nonstarters.

Third is the price. They’re expensive, with the Galaxy S25 Edge starting at $1,099.99 and the iPhone Air at $999. Impressively sleek designs aside, it’s hard to convince folks to spend so much money on a phone that does less, especially when the base models are cheaper and the flagship Galaxy S25 Ultra and iPhone 17 Pro Max continue to outsell all other models.

The underperforming Galaxy S25 Edge and iPhone Air.Image credit: Zach Laidlaw

Dead on arrival

While Apple and Samsung thought they could wow consumers with their ultrathin phones from the future, users thought otherwise. After five months on the shelf for the Galaxy S25 Edge and half that time for iPhone Air, both phones are lagging in sales.

According to investment banking firm Mizuho Securities via the Elec, Apple already cut production of the iPhone Air by 1 million units, a move that could seriously impact the future of the product line. As for Samsung, the news is even more dire. South Korean outlet Newspim reported that the next-generation Galaxy S26 Edge was shelved due to poor S25 Edge sales.

The ultra-slim phone category is effectively dead for Samsung, and it’s on life support for Apple. If the two largest phone manufacturers on the planet can’t make thin phones stick, there isn’t much hope for other OEMs.

Can anything save the ultrathin phone market?

Users will continue to reject ultrathin phones until some of their drawbacks are addressed. Luckily, the biggest hurdle has a solution that’s currently in development — batteries. Despite all the advancements in consumer technology, batteries have largely remained the same. Lithium-ion technology, which first emerged in the 1970s, is still the gold standard, thanks to its durability, longevity, and high power capacities. But as the limits of lithium-ion batteries meet their match inside the thinnest phones ever built, the industry needs a next-generation solution that can hold even more power in tight spaces.

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Photo by VCG/Getty Images

Silicon carbon and graphene batteries are the most likely candidates. Both alternatives hold more power than their lithium-ion cousin, which is exactly what manufacturers need. Unfortunately, there are several fatal flaws that, so far, have kept them from going mainstream.

Silicon carbon batteries aren’t as structurally stable as lithium-ion. They swell over time, a big red flag in a sleek device where every millimeter of space counts. Graphene batteries, on the other hand, suffer from low yields and mass production issues that make them difficult to produce at scale, at least for now.

Ultrathin smartphones are stunning pieces of tech, with their slim designs, durable frames, and feather-light materials, but aside from sheer vanity, they’re a tough sell. They come with too many compromises to make them a good buy for most users. Manufacturers like Apple and Samsung must solve these shortcomings before the ultrathin phone market has a shot at success. Sadly, by the time they figure it out, there may be no room for an ultrathin phone category at all.

​Tech, Culture 

A Michigan woman has been arrested after several children allegedly described horrific sexual abuse while she babysat them over many years, according to police.

Gaila Bennett, 63, from Midland was charged with 48 counts related to the alleged abuse after a family contacted Tri-City Post police in October.

Bennett is also alleged to have given the children unknown medication.

The family said that Bennett babysat their children at her home in Midland and sexually assaulted them between 2013 and 2020.

Troopers obtained Bennett’s electronic devices while serving a warrant at her home on Prairie Road in Midland County on Oct. 17.

Four days later, she was arraigned on dozens of charges, including 24 counts of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree, 12 counts of criminal sexual conduct in the second degree, and 12 counts of assault with intent to commit sexual penetration.

The children said that she would pose them in sexually explicit situations and create images of them. They alleged inappropriate touching and sexual penetration.

Bennett is also alleged to have given the children unknown medication as well as rub soap in their eyes.

One of the children said that Bennett allegedly threatened to lock the girl in a woodshop all day if she refused to participate in the abuse.

The children underwent forensic examination at the Bay County Child Advocacy Center after reporting the abuse on Oct. 5.

RELATED: Kidnapped 5-year-old saved after she yelled to her neighbors about a ‘monster’ who allegedly killed her father

Police said that additional counts could be filed against Bennett as the investigation is ongoing.

Bennett was arraigned in Midland County District Court on Monday. She remains in custody on a bond of $5 million.

Bennett’s next court hearing is Nov. 4.

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​Gaila bennett, Horrific child sex abuse material, Midland michigan abuse, Babysitter abuse, Crime 

For decades, we’ve been told America’s wars are about drugs, democracy, or “defending freedom.” But look closer at what’s unfolding off the coast of Venezuela, and you’ll see something far more strategic taking shape. Donald Trump’s so-called drug war isn’t about fentanyl or cocaine. It’s about control — and a rebirth of American sovereignty.

The aim of Trump’s ‘drug war’ is to keep the hemisphere’s oil, minerals, and manufacturing within the Western family and out of Beijing’s hands.

The president understands something the foreign policy class forgot long ago: The world doesn’t respect apologies. It respects strength.

While the global elites in Davos tout the Great Reset, Trump is building something entirely different — a new architecture of power based on regional independence, not global dependence. His quiet campaign in the Western Hemisphere may one day be remembered as the second Monroe Doctrine.

Venezuela sits at the center of it all. It holds the world’s largest crude oil reserves — oil perfectly suited for America’s Gulf refineries. For years, China and Russia have treated Venezuela like a pawn on their chessboard, offering predatory loans in exchange for control of those resources. The result has been a corrupt, communist state sitting in our own back yard. For too long, Washington shrugged. Not any more.

The naval exercises in the Caribbean, the sanctions, the patrols — they’re not about drug smugglers. They’re about evicting China from our hemisphere.

Trump is using the old “drug war” playbook to wage a new kind of war — an economic and strategic one — without firing a shot at our actual enemies. The goal is simple: Keep the hemisphere’s oil, minerals, and manufacturing within the Western family and out of Beijing’s hands.

Beyond Venezuela

Just east of Venezuela lies Guyana, a country most Americans couldn’t find on a map a year ago. Then ExxonMobil struck oil, and suddenly Guyana became the newest front in a quiet geopolitical contest. Washington is helping defend those offshore platforms, build radar systems, and secure undersea cables — not for charity, but for strategy. Control energy, data, and shipping lanes, and you control the future.

Moreover, Colombia — a country once defined by cartels — is now positioned as the hinge between two oceans and two continents. It guards the Panama Canal and sits atop rare-earth minerals every modern economy needs. Decades of American presence there weren’t just about cocaine interdiction; they were about maintaining leverage over the arteries of global trade. Trump sees that clearly.

RELATED: A war on Venezuela would be a war on reality

Photo by PEDRO MATTEY/AFP via Getty Images

All of these recent news items — from the military drills in the Caribbean to the trade negotiations — reflect a new vision of American power. Not global policing. Not endless nation-building. It’s about strategic sovereignty.

It’s the same philosophy driving Trump’s approach to NATO, the Middle East, and Asia. We’ll stand with you — but you’ll stand on your own two feet. The days of American taxpayers funding global security while our own borders collapse are over.

Trump’s Monroe Doctrine

Critics will call it “isolationism.” It isn’t. It’s realism. It’s recognizing that America’s strength comes not from fighting other people’s wars but from securing our own energy, our own supply lines, our own hemisphere. The first Monroe Doctrine warned foreign powers to stay out of the Americas. The second one — Trump’s — says we’ll defend them, but we’ll no longer be their bank or their babysitter.

Historians may one day mark this moment as the start of a new era — when America stopped apologizing for its own interests and started rebuilding its sovereignty, one barrel, one chip, and one border at a time.

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​Opinion & analysis, Opinion, Venezuela, Venezuelan strike, Drug war, Drug wars, Us caribbean drills, Monroe doctrine, Trump doctrine, Donald trump, National defense, National interest, Navy, Marco rubio, Guyana, Colombia, Cocaine, Fentanyl, China, Russia, Oil, Energy independence, Rare earth minerals, Realism 

Robert De Niro opened up about his struggle with Trump derangement syndrome on MSNBC’s “The Weekend” this Sunday, when co-host Jonathan Capehart asked De Niro whether he believes Trump will leave office when his term ends.

“No way. … He will not want to leave. He set it up with his, I guess, the Goebbels of the Cabinet,” De Niro replied, referencing Stephen Miller.

“He’s a Nazi. Yes, he is, and he’s Jewish. He should be ashamed of himself,” he said.

De Niro also attacked Americans across the country, picking on those in rural areas for supporting the president.

“They’re used to seeing Trump do his stuff, and they talk, and they listen, and that’s the truth to them because they don’t listen to anything else except somewhere way out in the Midwest, somewhere out west, in certain places, the rural places. That’s the truth,” De Niro said.

“’Cause he gets the air time. And I think that we need more air time. … The news media could find ways to kind of ignore or tamp down nonsense from Trump. It’s just total nonsense. But those people out there listen to it and assume if it can be on the air and it’s out there, it’s the truth,” he added.

“Completely lost,” BlazeTV co-host Jeff Fisher says on “Pat Gray Unleashed.”

“He wants to censor the president,” executive producer Keith Malinak adds.

“Absolutely. And he wants to censor what Americans are seeing and getting their information, you know, like on X or any other platform,” Fisher agrees.

“You wouldn’t be referring to Americans, quote, ‘out there,’ end quote?” Malinak mocks, adding, “Flyover country. He wants to say flyover country so badly.”

“He wants to say he hates middle America, and he does kind of without actually saying it. And he’s just babbling about Donald Trump,” Fisher says. “The TDS has got him strong. I mean, it’s just actually taken full effect. And it’s just, MSNBC just lets him come in and babble.”

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​Free, Sharing, Video phone, Upload, Video, Camera phone, Youtube.com, Pat gray unleashed, Pat gray, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, President donald trump, Trump, Robert deniro, Midwest, Flyover country, Robert de niro, Trump derangement syndrome, Tds, Keith malinak, Jeff fisher 

What do you call someone who thinks drag queen story hour better embodies “liberty” than Americans buying Bibles in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s martyrdom? I’ll tell you — and, let me assure you, I choose my words here with theological precision.

David French is a satanic slanderer of the brethren. In my view, he’s become an instrument of deception, and I’ll explain why.

If poetic justice prevailed, David French’s byline would read ‘Judas.’ May he enjoy the potter’s field he’s bought for himself.

Charlie Kirk’s legacy speaks for itself. Nearly everyone who spent time with the murdered founder of Turning Point USA left more grounded in the gospel than they were before. Even Donald Trump Jr., during Charlie’s memorial service, spoke to millions about St. Stephen — the church’s first martyr — because friendship with a man who had given his life and last breath to God bore visible fruit.

French, like Kirk, enjoys a powerful platform. From his perch at the New York Times — the epicenter of America’s corporate media machine — he can influence an elite readership. Yet what evidence shows that his faith leads anyone closer to Christ? None.

Instead, French routinely simps for the spirit of the age, mocking what is good, true, and beautiful. The man once known for moral clarity has become a parody of himself — Joe Biden with less drool and better diction.

French should not be engaged as a serious Christian thinker. He should be exposed and rebuked as what he has become: an agent of deception. As the apostle Paul wrote of Demas, his former companion who “loved this present world,” French has traded salt and light for relevance and applause.

Believers must guard against such turncoats as faith becomes costlier and clearer in our time. Scripture warns repeatedly about impostors who infiltrate the church, seeking to poison it from within. Paul named names in his epistles. He called out the frauds without apology. He didn’t leave the flock guessing about where the danger lay.

Today’s “nicer than God” crowd would scold Paul for being uncharitable. But Charlie Kirk understood that clarity, not niceness, wins spiritual battles. His campus Q&As didn’t leave students guessing about the truth. You might not have liked every answer, but you knew exactly what was at stake. That conviction, lived to the point of death, is what faith demands.

RELATED: Antifa is what you get when cowards run civilization

Photo by Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images

Our faith is the cross, so all of us must provide an unambiguous understanding of the gospel and what it costs.

French’s conduct offers the opposite lesson. His public witness bears no fruit. He delights in the approval of secular elites who despise the gospel. He preens before the godless No Kings crowd, too vain to notice his own descent. Even the biblical warning about millstones and those who lead children astray doesn’t give him pause. He’s chosen his side: deceit and damnation.

I’ve mostly ignored French’s unraveling in recent years. But Charlie is dead, and I won’t let my friend — or the gospel — be caricatured by a man who has become nothing short of a terrorist to the faithful. French couldn’t tie Charlie Kirk’s shoes, which may explain his bitterness. He’s rewriting history to cheapen Charlie’s sacrifice.

How dare he.

You can’t hold such covetous slander in too much contempt. If poetic justice prevailed, French’s byline would read “Judas.” May he enjoy the potter’s field he’s bought for himself. The hireling always receives his reward in full.

​Opinion & analysis, David french, Liberty, Christianity, Drag queen story hour, Religion, Satanic, Charlie kirk, Assassination, Church, Apostle paul, Bible