Over in Las Vegas at CES, there's an emphasis on staying slim. Not with the exhibitors or press walking around the expo you understand (far from it, in fact) but when it comes to mobile devices.

And it is Chinese company Huawei who seems to have the trump card in the smartphone skinny-off, as it has just announced the Huawei Ascend P1 S – the world's thinnest phone at just 6.68mm thick. That's 0.2 slimmer than the Fujitsu ES IS12F, which its makers are claiming as the slimmest, and a whopping 2mm+ thinner than the Samsung Galaxy S II.

Huawei is keen to stress though that it isn't just its svelteness that stands it apart – it is also claiming the P1 S as the “leader” in class, and boasts that its processor – the 1.5GHz TI 4460 Cortex A9 – is the “world's fastest dual core processor in the world”. It also packs 1GB of RAM and has a SGX 540 GPU.

Packing Android Ice Cream Sandwich, Dolby Mobile 3.0 a, 4.3-inch display with a 960x540 resolution, a 1,800mAh battery, as well as the world's thinnest Gorilla Glass (0.55mm) – the Huawei Ascend P1 S is far from the usual budget or mid-level handset that we've come to expect from the Chinese company.

The 8-megapixel camera can shoot 1080p video and also has a dual-flash, BSI image tech, face recognition technology, a group shots mode where five pictures are taken at once and a panorama mode as well. There's also a 1.3-megapixel HD cam on the front.

Maybe those predictions that it will become “the new HTC” are about to ring true. The P1 S is certainly a big statement. Our quick play with the handset was exactly that but we were incredibly impressed with the fantastically clear display and the speed of the engine room's response. This phone is an absolute beast, of that there's no doubt.

A longer play may highlight some flaws or issues but on first impressions, we're pretty smitten. 

It has been launched alongside its slightly chubbier brother, the Huawei Ascend P1, which is actually slightly lighter despite its extra mm or so. It packs the same tech as its slimmer brethren, in a 7.69mm chassis.

No exact launch details at present, but we were told to expect the Ascend handsets in Europe at the end of March. A price point of around $400 was mentioned.