Huawei launches world’s slimmest smartphone

China’s Huawei unveiled its flagship smartphone, the Ascend P6, at its first standalone launch event on Tuesday, underlining its ambitions to compete with Apple and Samsung in the top tier of mobile technology.

The company says the device, at 6.18 mm thick, is the world’s slimmest. It has a 5 megapixel front-facing camera, designed for taking “selfies”, or pictures of the owner to be shared on social media networks.

The company picked the launch date – 6/18 (June 18) – to tie in with the smartphone’s dimensions.