You can call me a cynic if you like, and honestly I'd actually prefer it if I was proven wrong, but I'm looking at the rumours for next year's flagships and I'm thinking already it's going to be a pretty dull year for launches compared to 2017.
This year was a pretty big year in terms of the new devices which arrived. It's been fairly exciting compared to 2016, which was a bit of a damp squib - this seems to be the way it goes in mobile tech; a good year follows a bad year, which is followed by another good year, and so it goes on.
The iPhone X received a lot of attention, but we also had Samsung's Galaxy S8 series and Galaxy Note 8, which offered something pretty special too. Then there's the OnePlus 5/5T, Google's Pixel 2 series, the LG V30, the Essential Phone...the list goes on. Lots of really great, compelling handsets with a lot of innovative new tech.
But if you look at the early rumours for 2018's lead models...it makes for pretty dull reading, to be frank. With Apple conducting a massive overhaul with the iPhone X, the word about the iPhone XI and iPhone XI Plus suggests they'll be pretty iterative updates rather than highly innovative; this is pretty standard after a major re-jig for things to settle into a kind of equilibrium. It makes sense - it's reality - but it's not very thrilling as a result.
Likewise, for the LG G7, so far we've simply heard that it'll pack an advanced all-in-one iris scanner. Not to knock iris scanning technology, but it doesn't exactly get my pulse racing.
And the Galaxy S9 series? Similarly a new iris scanner, dual-SIM capability, an updated processor, and a new purple colour option. These are all the things which are tipped before its imminent arrival in Q1.
Be still my beating heart.
Even Nokia/HMD's early plans for the year aren't that amazing - a Nokia 9 and a second tour for the Nokia 8, both of which will apparently be similar to the current Nokia 8 in terms of hardware, but will add waterproofing and 18:9 aspect ratio displays. Yes, 18:9 aspect ratio displays are cool, but I'm getting a bit bored of phones coming out where that is the only major feature.
The only device I am - or was - really excited about in 2018 is the Samsung Galaxy X, because that would debut truly flexible and folding OLED displays and form factors, heralding the arrival of a new wave of design innovation that is desperately needed at this point.
The problem with that though, and the reason I'm not so super pumped about it, is it's more of a market test and proof of concept if the rumours are true - it'll see a limited run of around 100,000 units in South Korea just to test the waters, meaning the real deal probably won't turn up until 2019 - again, it looks like that'll be another year to get really excited about following the standard 12-month lull after a year (this one) packed with innovation and excitement.
by pbriden via Featured Articles
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