This has been an unprecedented year in the phone, and the competition has never been so fierce in every market section. For cheap brackets, Google Pixel 8A was included by anything phone 2A and OnePlus 12R, while the premium segment saw the launch of many outstanding phones like Google Pixel 9 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro, Galaxy S24 Plus, and OnePlus 12.
Then Ultra-Pramium phones and foldables are two categories, which have long dominated Samsung America, but the company now face more competition than ever before at home and abroad. Samsung launched the Galaxy S24 Ultra in January, but it was the Galaxy Z fold 6 that gave the biggest challenge. In the US, Google launched a luxurious Pixel 9 Pro fold, while outside the US, Honor unveiled the Magic V3.
Dozens of phone manufacturers are carrying forward the boundaries of smartphones in their current and future forms, and some of them have already shown us what future phones can be. There are five innovations here that I want to see widely adopted this year that can change the smartphone forever.
Silicon as standard
This is the time for a battery revolution, especially in American companies, companies such as Honor and Oppo have adopted silicone-based battery technology, which provides up to 34% more density. In other words, it allows us to obtain large batteries without compromising thickness, and they can still offer incredibly fast charging.
I have tested several phones with silicon-based technology-in which I can't talk for a few weeks-and they represent a huge step towards a battery revolution. The Honor Magic V3 foldable is 4.3 mm thin when it has surfaced, but still has a 5,150mAh silicone-carbon battery. Battery life is excellent, and it usually lasts for more than Pixel 9 Pro fold or Galaxy Z fold 6.
Silicon-based batteries also support fast charging; Magic V3 supports 66-watted wired charging, Oppo supports the Find X8 Pro 80W, and the phone that I can't even talk about rapid charging support. All these also support 50W wireless charging. Each of these manufacturers already offered charging speed similar to the previous battery technology. I hope that other companies adopting silicon in their battery follow the mold of superfast charging.
Trifolding or rolling screen
One of my biggest highlights of 2024 is Huawei Mate XT. We have seen a trifolding phone (aka, a foldable phone with a foldable phone that turns into three) before the concept, and Samsung also showed us a prototype, but Huawei defeated everyone in the market. The Met Xt is geeky and luxurious, but it is not widely available.
Where a phone manufacturer goes, others usually follow, and I am expecting that we will see foldable category developed this year. It is six years old in the current format of foldables, but the form factor has not been completed yet.
A phone display that becomes an iPad mini shape, is one thing, but a phone display that may appear to be a 10 -inch tablet, is completely another. Talking to non-tochi people I know throughout the year, it seems that trifold and rolling categories can seek their reply.
I hope that we will develop each of these form factor this year, but I suspect that we will be very close to understand the ideal foldable form factor by the end of the year.
Make Aye more personal
I am a fan of Apple Intelligence for a major reason: generative AI does not provide me with daily utilitarian values as a more individual approach. In particular, the notification summary is an excellent feature that how I manage my life.
Unfortunately, most AI features focus on creativity, not productivity. The generative AI discusses the most for a short time, but eventually loses its transformative value in our daily life. Instead of being one, it becomes a gimmick. This will not enable long -term commitment to use AI, and as more companies use the word to describe any form, the stock will be reduced by users.
The answer is very simple: AI should also pay attention to solving more everyday problems. Think of a personal assistant, not intelligent robots. Apple Intelligence takes some steps towards this, but phone manufacturers need to demonstrate a killer use case for AI this year so that customers can actually buy it. Do not focus only on creative functions; Give us intelligent parts too.
A revolution of ultra
The phone naming conferences are different for each manufacturer, but there is also an approved industry standard that every phone manufacturer follows roughly. For years, there was a flagship, and then we entered the era of Plus, Pro and Pro Max.
We are strongly firmly in the era of Ultra, but phone manufacturers are already making an important mistake. Instead of a true ultra, which pushes the boundaries in every way, the current ultra phone has mostly a secondary telephoto camera. The Galaxy S24 Ultra tries to go ahead with a different design and involved S-pen, but all ultra phones follow the same original philosophy.
I hope that ultra lineups will develop in 2025, especially more ultra phones have been launched and companies aim to separate themselves. Large batteries, fast charging, new experience, a rolling display, a fourth camera, etc. – to ensure that the ultra standard increases.
More buttons for all
It is fun that some features go out and out of style. The camera button was an identity of early experience with most feature phone cameras, but they quickly went out of fashion. Sony has long offered a camera button on her smartphone, but the rest have eaten it – until September 2024. Apple was brought back to a dedicated camera button in the iPhone 16 series, and Oppo soon chased with the Find X8 series.
Those two phones are two phones that I use daily, and my workflow takes just three months for the camera button. Importantly, this means that I can reprogram the power button or action button to do another task instead. Of course, I can combine the iPhone with click keyboard and get dozens of shortcuts, but I do not use that feature all the time.
The Find X8 series adopts the camera button in a simple way compared to the iPhone, focusing on launching the camera and zoom inside or out. The camera also uses the camera control button to switch between the Apple mode, and the iOS 18.2 also added visual intelligence functionality.
Vision and AI are a large part of the future, and your smartphone will be part of that easy access to camera. If we are going to adopt the camera button, however, it must be greater than a simple camera button. Swipe me through camera mode or launch Gemini Live with a button.
Apple also proved with the action button that it is a good thing to add program -able buttons, and I hope more phone manufacturers will also offer a similar feature. Instead of disposal of the physical button, I would like to see phone manufacturers presenting additional methods to launch shortcuts and access features.
Phone to look out in 2025
With a new year on us, one thing is clear: the fight continues. Samsung is the leader of the industry, but everyone is hot on its tail. Google proved that it is eventually taking the smartphone seriously; The result is Google's best phone lineup and a one that turned me into a pixel phone. What will this year's Google Pixel 10 series bring?
In the US, there is also OnePlus, which has proved that it can make outstanding smartphones in the last 18 months. OnePlus Open is still one of the best folding phones in the market after the launch last year. Will 2025 bring us the next generation OnePlus and Oppo foldable phone? Oppo Find X8 Pro currently has my Android phone of choice, so how will OnePlus 13 fare will be launched in two weeks?
Of course, there is a large elephant apple in the room. AI is everywhere, and therefore Apple is intelligence, but it is not yet fully available. A rollout of features in nine months means a lot of opportunities for a positive user experience, but the company made a lot of adventure promises around the Apple Intelligence features. I can't wait to see what the WWDC and the iPhone 17 series bring – and this includes the rumor iPhone 17 Slim.
Join us next week because we land on Las Vegas for CES 2025. Happy new year!
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