The smartphone market has become quite saturated in recent years, and the past year, helped by the corona, has indicated that the rise in the price level of high-end phones in particular is beginning to reach its peak. Many in the industry are of the opinion that too little is really being seen in the new phones, but on the other hand, the proliferation of new technologies such as 5G and the folding screen has not been particularly well received by everyone. Given the potential of folding display technology to change the structure and usability of smartphones as a whole, or the impact of 5G on the evolving potential of mobile devices, criticisms of the lack of development in the sector seem somewhat contradictory in some places.

The first folding display phones were already on the market in the first half of the year 2019, but the year 2020 brought more technical solutions more mature, although there is still a long way to go for a mass market-friendly implementation. . Samsung has so far been the most prominent of the manufacturers pushing folding display technology to the phone market, and the company has announced plans to launch more and cheaper folding display phones this year. So far, there is no more detailed information on how low Samsung can push the price level, but the fact is that the high price level has so far been one of the biggest brakes on the spread of new display technology. As long as the price level is lowered and options that appeal to ordinary consumers are introduced to the market, it will only be possible to see whether the folding screen has enough bangs to create a new trend in the smartphone market. However, during the year 2021, a significant increase in the use of folding telephones is unlikely to be seen. According to preliminary data, folding screen phones from other major manufacturers are also promised this year, so the supply will certainly increase

. Like the foldable display technology, the first smartphones with 5G support were already seen in the year 2019, but it wasn’t until last year that 5G made a strong case for mid-range devices in addition to high-end phones. The 5G technology used in phones developed by the year 2020 by far the fastest energy, but there is still room for improvement in this area compared to 4G. 5G devices also went well in trade, although not necessarily primarily with user needs, but with supply and market control. In other words, especially in the second half of the year, for those who buy a phone over 300 as a whole, the best options were almost entirely 5G models, even though there was no need for a new generation connection yet. . In addition, sales of 5G models in particular were boosted by very attractive offers. On the subscription side, Finnish operators shifted their emphasis to 5G subscriptions through both pricing and selection. By the end of the year, virtually all of the faster subscription options had been converted to 5G, and the fastest 4G subscriptions were priced so that choosing a 5G subscription was very attractive.

In 2021 5G support will become more widespread in more affordable price ranges and will be seen in phones less than 144 phones . The spread of 5G is being accelerated by system circuits with 5G modems aimed at increasingly lower price ranges, which are currently Mediatek’s cheaper Dimensity models and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 690 and 480 models. Phones with 4G connections alone are fast becoming the exception and mainly the feature of the cheapest price range.

From the average user’s point of view, the proliferation of 5G will not provide a major sudden upheaval

From the average user’s point of view, the proliferation of 5G will not provide a major sudden revolution, but will mainly improve the performance and speed of mobile networks as technology becomes more common. It is also worth remembering that there is still a kind of transition going on, where 5G NSA (non-standalone) network technology also partially utilizes the old 4G networks. “Full-blooded” 5G networks based on cloud-based 5G Core technology are still in the testing phase in Finland and operators have not announced their exact launch schedules, but they can be expected to be completed within 1-2 years, according to io-Tech. Only Standalone 5G technology brings with it the most significant benefits of the new network technology, such as lower delays and much more versatile traffic management, which enables e.g. slicing of network capacity on a per-user basis

To answer the title question, both 5G and folding screens are still in the maturing stage, but their future prospects are quite different. 5G will become the new norm in the next few years, and while the overall level of service on mobile networks will improve, many basic users will not pay much attention to it. Folding screens are also in the process of maturing, but their future is so far a full question mark, and the year ahead is unlikely to determine anything lasting about the future of technology.

Other smartphone features already seen last year, but becoming more widespread this year, will include adaptive high-refresh rate displays as well as flagship cameras with four different focal lengths. Over the past year, most high-end phones have already found a high refresh rate display 90 and 144 Hertz fork. However, only in a few cases was the refresh rate a content-adaptive variety. This year, at least 144 Hertz screens will become more common in more expensive end phones even more and an adaptive refresh rate will be available for more and more models. 90 and 120 Hertz displays will also become more common in mid-range models.

On the camera side, rear camera assemblies with four different focal lengths were still quite rare last year. This year, they may be seen on higher end phones more than before. A typical combination of four cameras is likely to be a combination of ultra-wide-angle, wide-angle, short-zoom (normal / telephoto) and long-camera, which can already cover a fairly wide focal range. With this, of course, the size of the camera nodules will also increase even more. The number of megapixels for image sensors will also increase, as Samsung, for example, is rumored to release a 200 megapixel sensor. Increasing image processing performance will allow for faster processing and utilization of larger image data as well as data from multiple cameras simultaneously.

On the battery side, charging speeds will certainly increase even further, but the benefits for the consumer are already beginning to be questioned in many places, as already significantly lower charging powers have already achieved quite fast charging speeds. Manufacturers would therefore like to focus more on features that extend battery life, such as limiting charging power and setting a charge level limit, which are currently only found in phones from a few manufacturers. The omission of chargers from the sales package, a trend that is becoming more common based on the latest flagship releases from Apple, Xiaom and Samsung, brings its own spice to the soup. The solution will certainly reduce unnecessary electronic waste, but will also increase sales of accessories and make it more challenging for the basic consumer to find the full potential of the phone.

io-Tech’s goal is also to handle all major smartphone publications published in the Finnish market in the year 2021 as soon as possible. As launched last year, the most significant smartphone releases will be covered in the form of fresh first-time video, and the actual test article will be published in writing as soon as possible on the site side. The aim is to better optimize the publication time of articles compared to last year through pre-planning and a shorter lead time (time from the arrival of the test device to the publication of the article).

We also selected the best smartphones of the year 2020 in four different price categories during io-Tech’s mobile delivery. In the price range below 200 our choice was Nokia 5.3, below 450 in the euro price range Samsung Galaxy A 51 5G, less than 700 in the OnePlus 8T price category and over 700 in the OnePlus 8 Pro flagship category. In the video below you can see a more detailed justification for the choices as well as the worst challengers in each price range.