Mobile technology is changing rapidly. It seems stable from the surface, but the real scenario is completely different. Perhaps the design of a first generation iPhone circa 2007 and iPhone X is quite similar, but you cannot judge them by their covers. So, if you want to buy a new phone and you are not up to date with the ongoing trends, then this article is for you.
There was a time when the processor of a phone was very important. Nowadays people do not care about the processor if the smartphone performs well. We saw the battle between Snapdragon and MediaTek in past years. Snapdragon processors were only available in the flagship devices and MediaTek processors were available in the budget smartphones. Moreover, we many vendors did not highlight information about the chipset of their newly launched device at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018. Thus, the smartphone companies are coming up with their own processors like Exynos (Samsung), Kirin (Huawei), etc. The processor is no longer a talk of the town and it is a huge breakthrough for both consumers and producers.
Now if we look at the smartphones of 2016, we see only a number of bezel-less devices. Back in 2017, Xiaomi released their flagship device (MI Mix) which has a slim bezel. Now in 2018, most of the companies are releasing even their budget phones with this feature. Typically it takes a couple of years for a high-end feature to filter down to the budget models. Here, the scenario has changed and nothing is bound to flagship devices anymore. Bezel-less, 18:9 ratio, etc. are the buzzwords of mobile technology right now and a newly launched device will lose its charm if it is not equipped with these features.
It is an open secret that every year iPhone sets a trend and others copy it. Apple launches their iPhones every year with great features, but most of the copycats copy the worst features. If we look at the iPhone X, we see that the notch is not very attractive. However, Asus Zenfone 5, Huawei P20, Oppo R15, Vivo V9, etc. are already in the market with that notch. I am not against copying, but I think that the vendors can also copy the Samsung Galaxy series or LG V series. In addition to iPhone’s Animoji, Samsung released AR Emoji on their flagships (Galaxy S9 and S9+). Similarly, many companies are releasing their phones with Face ID feature and no headphone jacks.
Let us focus on the camera section of a smartphone. There was a time when people barely used their phone’s camera. That era has come to an end and now both the front camera and the back camera has its own value to the buyers. Nowadays people often use the front camera to take selfies, so the quality of the front camera is important as well. On the other hand, the back camera is important for capturing portrait and scenery. So, the dual camera feature is not a gimmick anymore. A combination of two different camera lenses is essential to capture better portrait photos. Even Huawei announced that Huawei P20 Pro will have a triple camera on its back! On the other hand, Samsung released their S9 with super Slo-Mo (slow motion video recording at 960 fps).
According to Ovum, 2G has 34%, 3G has 28% and 4G has 32% global market share as of December 2017. In the meantime, different companies launched 5G prototype modems in MWC 2018. The mobile technology is so unpredictable and no one can guess what happens next. Comment below your expectations from the next Mobile World Congress 2019.
