The archive · Product Ideas · Product decision · 2025
Dyson PencilVac: the world's slimmest vacuum, built around a 28mm motor
At 38mm wide and 1.8kg, the PencilVac is the world's slimmest vacuum — powered by Dyson's smallest motor, spinning at up to 140,000rpm.
Dyson
What it had to solve
Dyson's cordless vacuums had settled into a familiar shape: a wide wand with a separate bin and a brush bar that wrapped in long hair. For the PencilVac the company committed to a diameter it had never reached — 38mm, the same as its Supersonic hair dryer — and worked back from that dimension, inventing the components the form demanded.
How it works
Dyson's cordless vacuums had settled into a familiar shape: a wide wand with a dust bin, a brush bar that strangled on long hair, and a body too tall to slide under low furniture. The PencilVac started from the opposite direction — from a dimension target of 38mm, the same as Dyson's Supersonic hair dryer.
Hitting that dimension meant building components that did not exist. The new Hyperdymium 140k motor is Dyson's smallest at 28mm and its fastest at up to 140,000rpm, generating 55AW of suction. The Fluffycones cleaner head uses four conical brush bars that eject long hair rather than tangling it, and a 22mm two-stage linear separator captures 99.99% of particles down to 0.3 microns.
At 1.8kg the PencilVac lays flat to 95mm and is Dyson's first connected cordless vacuum, with battery and maintenance alerts via the MyDyson app. Dyson presented the machine in May 2025; the UK launch followed in December 2025 at £429.99. Reviewers framed it as a grab-and-go cleaner for hard floors rather than a main vacuum for carpeted homes.
Why it lands
- Setting the dimension first forced invention: the 28mm motor, conical brush bars and compact separator all exist because the 38mm wand demanded them.
- Designing against hair tangling rather than only for suction removed one of the most hated chores of vacuum ownership.
- A hard-floor-only format became an honest positioning: small homes and quick cleans got a machine that fits a cupboard instead of a second full-size vacuum.
- The MyDyson connection turned maintenance from guesswork into alerts, protecting performance between bin empties.
What it did
Dyson unveiled the PencilVac in May 2025 as the world's slimmest vacuum, and it reached UK shelves in December 2025 at £429.99. UK reviewers who tested it early described it as ideal for grab-and-go cleaning in small spaces, with one clear caveat: it only cleans hard floors, so carpeted homes still need a second machine.
What you can take
A dimension constraint can be the product brief: committing to a 38mm wand forced Dyson to invent the smaller motor, the tangle-free cleaner head and the compact dust separation the design needed.
Since then
After its May 2025 unveiling, the PencilVac reached UK shelves in December 2025 at £429.99, with Ideal Home testing it before launch and calling it ideal for grab-and-go cleaning while noting it cleans hard floors only. For Dyson the product is a proof of its motor roadmap: the 28mm Hyperdymium 140k is the smallest and fastest vacuum motor the company has made, and the machine built around it opens a slimmer product line. It also marks Dyson's first connected cordless vacuum, pairing with the MyDyson app for battery status and filter-maintenance guidance.
Sources
- Introducing the slimmest vacuum cleaner – the 38mm Dyson PencilVac
- The Dyson PencilVac is here! I tried the 'world's slimmest vacuum' before anyone else
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