It seems “Air” is the new “Pro” or “Max.” In the relentless carousel of smartphone branding, “Air” has become the moniker of the moment, a signal from manufacturers that they’ve shaved off just one more millimeter to win the coveted title of “thinnest.”

Huawei is the latest to throw its hat into this ultra-slim ring with the new Mate 70 Air.

This makes our third major “Air” phone for the year, following Apple‘s much-discussed iPhone Air and ZTE’s Nubia Air. It’s a clear trend, and it also suggests that when it comes to naming conventions, Apple’s influence still reigns supreme over Samsung’s. We’ve only seen two “Edges” to this year’s three “Airs.”

But here’s where Huawei’s new “Air” gets interesting. In a market where “thin” is almost always a direct synonym for “compromised battery,” Huawei is trying to have its cake and eat it, too.

At 6.6mm thick, the Mate 70 Air isn’t quite the slimmest of the bunch. It’s a hair thicker than Apple or Samsung’s most aggressive attempts at the formula. But what it does with that fraction of a millimeter is the real story: it makes room for a positively huge 6,500mAh battery.

To put that in perspective, this is a capacity that would be considered massive even in a bulky “Ultra” flagship. It absolutely dwarfs the 4,800mAh battery found in the excellent (and also very slim) Motorola Edge 70.

This move by Huawei is less of a gentle nudge and more of a direct shove. The pressure is now officially on for competitors, especially Apple and Samsung, to figure out how to deliver significantly better battery life in their second-generation thin phones. Huawei has just proven it’s possible, thanks in part to newer silicon-carbon battery technology that packs more power into less space.

So, what’s the catch? How did Huawei cram a power station into a supermodel’s chassis?

The short answer is: by making the phone very, very big in the other two dimensions. The Mate 70 Air achieves its magic trick in part by using an unusually large 7-inch screen. This gives the phone a much larger internal footprint to spread that battery out. So, while it’s undeniably “Air” thin, it is by no means a small phone. It’s a phablet, through and through.

The spec sheet has a few other quirks. The phone oddly offers a choice of two different processors. Buyers who are happy with 12GB of RAM will get the Kirin 9020B chip. If you upgrade to the 16GB model, you get bumped up to the slightly more powerful Kirin 9020A. According to Huawei, both are simply different versions of the regular Kirin 9020, likely clocked differently to manage heat and power in the slender frame.

One area where Huawei thankfully didn’t compromise is the camera. Often, the first thing to go in a thin phone is the telephoto lens, which requires physical depth. Yet, the Mate 70 Air boasts a capable triple-camera setup on the back, including a 50-megapixel main sensor, an ultrawide lens, and—crucially—a 12-megapixel telephoto lens. This is a serious boon for a phone in this category and a major advantage over rivals that settle for a simple digital zoom.

For now, this fascinating piece of engineering is a China-only affair, with no word on a global release. It starts at ¥4,199 (which is roughly $590), making it an incredibly aggressive competitor to the likes of the iPhone Air, at least on paper.

The Mate 70 Air is a bold statement. It’s challenging the very definition of what a “thin” phone has to be, asking a simple question: “What good is a phone that’s as thin as a credit card if it’s dead by 3 pm?”