According to documentation filed with China’s version of the FCC, Chinese manufacturer Gionee is preparing to launch the GN9005, a smartphone which measures a mere 5mm thick. Gionee holds the current record for producing the world’s thinnest smartphone with the Elife S5.5, which measures just 5.5mm thick. However, as no other challenger has arisen, Gionee has decided to go head-to-head with itself.
Although half a millimeter isn’t much when discussing something like waist size, in terms of smartphone thickness, it’s a considerable reduction. We’ve seen drops of a quarter millimeter used to beat previous records, and the thinner phones get, the harder it is to slim them down even further. Gionee, it seems, has the knack.
According to the certification, the GN9005 won’t reach the same technical standards as the Elife S5.5. The screen will shrink down to 4.8-inches, and the resolution down to 720p. Not a disaster, but not record-breaking material. The octa-core MediaTek processor inside the Elife S5.5 has been swapped out for an unnamed 1.2GHz quad-core chip with 1GB of RAM. Photos can be snapped by an 8-megapixel rear camera, while selfies will be taken care of by a 5-megapixel cam above the screen. Finally, there’s 16GB of internal memory listed, and a small 2050mAh battery.
The GN9005 doesn’t have an official name attached to it in the documentation, or any details of its eventual release. Even if it does arrive soon, it’s unlikely to be released in America, at least under the Gionee brand name. The firm has licensed the Elife S5.5 design to Blu Products though, where it’s being sold as the Blu Vivo IV. Perhaps the same will happen with the GN9005? For now, though, we must wait for Gionee to reveal all.
