Outside of the US, China has emerged to be the largest consumer of smartphone devices in the world, so much so, that several manufacturers cater only to the domestic Chinese market and do not expand outside. However in the last couple of years, we’ve seen Chinese manufacturers trying to create a toe-hold in the Western world – especially by banking on premium smartphone devices. We saw the same trend with Oppo when it released the Find 5, Find 7 and N1 – both premium devices and with Vivo as well.
However, another Chinese manufacturer is trying to differentiate itself from its home-base competitors. Gionee has claimed to launch the world’s slimmest smartphone – the Gionee Elife S5.5 – which measures in at an incredibly slim 5.5 mm profile. Just to set a perspective, the Apple iPhone 5S is 7.6 mm thick whereas the LG-made Google Nexus 5 is 8.6 mm thick. If Gionee’s claim is believed, the Elife S5.5 edges out Vivo’s X3 from the spotlight (the Vivo X3 was crowned the slimmest at 5.75mm). The Chinese manufacturer also goes on to claim that despite its slim profile, the Elife S5.5 will not disappoint on battery life thanks to its 2300 mAh battery – which (as claimed by Gionee) would last all day.
Apart from its profile and battery life, the Gionee Elife S5.5 seems like a mediocre device with a 5 inch display of unknown resolution, a quad-core Mediatek MT6592 chipset clocked at 1.7 GHz, with 2 GB RAM. Internal storage is not yet specified. However, we do know that the device will boast a 13 mega pixels (MP) primary camera and a 5 MP front facing video call camera. The 3G variant of the Gionee Elife S5.5 is already available for preorder in China for ~$370, while the LTE variant would be announced later in June. Gionee has confirmed that the device will be available in close to 40 markets globally, however these markets have not been declared as of yet.
However, the slim profile on the device begs the question – how slim is slim enough? Do you feel 5.5 mm is too slim or is it just perfect for you? Let us know in the comments below.