Tech companies are racing to make their products smaller - and much, much thinner

Some of the world's starring tech companies are betting large connected precise tiny innovations.

Last week, Samsung released its Galaxy Z Fold 7 which - erstwhile unfastened - has a thickness of conscionable 4.2mm, 1 of the slimmest folding phones ever to deed the market.

And Honor, a spin-off from Chinese smartphone institution Huawei, volition soon vessel its latest foldable - the slimmest successful the world. Its caller Honor Magic V5 exemplary is lone 8.8mm heavy erstwhile folded, and a specified 4.1mm erstwhile open.

Apple is besides expected to merchandise a foldable successful the 2nd fractional of adjacent year, according to a enactment by analysts astatine JPMorgan published this week.

The contention to miniaturise exertion is speeding up, the eventual prize being the adjacent improvement successful user devices.

Whether it beryllium wearable devices, specified arsenic smartglasses, watches, rings oregon foldables - determination is tremendous marketplace imaginable for immoderate shaper that tin marque its products tiny enough.

Despite being thinner than its predecessor, Honor claims its Magic V5 besides offers important improvements to artillery life, processing power, and camera capabilities.

Hope Cao, a merchandise adept astatine Honor told Sky News the advancement was "due mostly to our silicon c artillery technology". These batteries are a next-generation breakthrough that offers higher vigor density compared to accepted lithium-ion batteries, and are becoming much communal successful user devices.

Honor besides told Sky News it had utilized its ain AI exemplary "to precisely trial and find the optimum design, which was some the slimmest, arsenic good as, the astir durable."

However, probe and improvement into miniaturisation goes good beyond conscionable folding phones.

A institution that's been astatine the forefront of processing augmented world (AR) glasses, Xreal, was 1 of the archetypal to merchandise a viable brace to the user market.

Xreal's Ralph Jodice told Sky News "one of our biggest engineering challenges is shrinking almighty augmented world exertion into a signifier origin that looks and feels similar mundane sunglasses".

Xreal's specs tin show images connected the lenses similar thing retired of a sci-fi movie - allowing the wearer to link astir USB-C compatible devices specified arsenic phones, laptops and handheld consoles to an IMAX-sized surface anyplace they go.

Experts astatine The Metaverse Society suggest prices of these wearable devices could beryllium lowered by shifting the load of computing from the headset to a mobile telephone oregon computer, whose artillery and processor would powerfulness the glasses via a cable.

However, contempt the daunting challenge, companies are doubling down connected probe and making leaps successful the area.

Social media elephantine Meta is besides vying for dominance successful the miniature market.

Meta's Ray-Ban sunglasses (to which they precocious added an Oakley range), cannot task images connected the lenses similar the brace from Xreal - alternatively they tin seizure photos, footage and sound. When connected to a smartphone they tin adjacent usage your phone's 5G transportation to inquire Meta's AI what you're looking at, and inquire however to prevention a peculiar benignant of houseplant for example.

Gareth Sutcliffe, a tech and media expert astatine Enders Analysis, tells Sky News wearables "are a greenish tract accidental for Meta and Google" to seizure a marketplace of "hundreds of millions of users if these devices merchantability astatine akin rates to mobile phones".

Li-Chen Miller, Meta's vice president of merchandise and wearables, precocious said: "You'd beryllium hard-pressed to find a much absorbing engineering occupation successful the institution than the 1 that's astatine the intersection of these 2 dynamics, gathering glasses [with onboard technology] that radical are comfy wearing connected their faces for extended periods of clip ... and consenting to deterioration them astir friends, family, and others nearby."

Mr Sutcliffe points retired that "Meta's R&D walk connected wearables looks bonzer successful the discourse of constricted income now, but should the class detonate successful popularity, it volition beryllium seen arsenic a large strategical bet."

Facebook laminitis Mark Zuckerberg's semipermanent purpose is to harvester the abilities of some Xreal and the Ray-Bans into a afloat functioning brace of smartglasses, susceptible of capturing content, arsenic good arsenic show graphics onscreen.

However, contempt precocious showcasing a prototype model, the institution was astatine pains to constituent retired that it was inactive acold from acceptable for the user market.

This contention is simply a marathon not a sprint - oregon arsenic Sutcliffe tells Sky News "a decade-long slog" - but 17 years aft the merchandise of the archetypal iPhone, radical are opening to wonderment what volition regenerate it - and it could good beryllium a brace of glasses.