2020 has been a weird year, but thankfully, that doesn’t seem to have affected device release schedules too much. Can’t say the same for movies, but that’s another story.
There’s been an undeniable trend in the mobile space — after a period of shrinkage, flagship devices are getting bigger. This trend has been facilitated by several advancements in the space as mobile phones with screens we see today were simply not possible, say, 10 years ago.
- Chips are faster, more parallel and more efficient
- Batteries have more capacity in smaller spaces, and devices have more sophisticated power management
- Screens have higher resolutions, higher refresh rates and better efficiency
- Advancements in technology, such as flexible screens, under-screen fingerprint sensors, facial recognition in mobile, etc., have allowed for a higher screen-to-body ratio — bigger screens within similarly sized housing across the generations
- For better image and video quality, engineers are not just cramming in bigger sensors – they are adding more cameras
- More features
The only large phone that’s ever made sense to me is the ultimate large phone — the Samsung Galaxy Note. That’s because it has a stylus – the S-Pen. It’s easier to write on a screen that’s bigger, and the engineers at Samsung recognized this from the beginning. The first Galaxy Note phone had a screen that was a “whopping” 5.3 inches across – pretty small by today’s standards. The main criticisms of such a “monster” size were that it wouldn’t fit in most pockets and that one-handed use would be difficult. To put this in context, Apple just announced the iPhone SE, a compact alternative to their flagship phone that has a 4.7-inch screen…
Now I took a break after drafting the above. Now, four years later in September 2024, it’s fair to say a lot has changed!
- The Galaxy Note is dead, but its spirit lives on—the Galaxy S2X Ultras carry the Notes’ large screen and stylus.
- Foldables are a major (expensive!) thing now—these are the new flagships, or rather alternative flagships, at least in the Android space; Apple hasn’t quite made the jump yet, but rumours suggest that will happen.
- Generative AI is all the rage, and it’s in all the things!
I have thoughts.
I think the Galaxy S2X Ultras are among the top phones, true flagships each year. I get a sneaking feeling Samsung will drop the integrated stylus at some point though. It’s either you use the stylus or you don’t, and I get the sense most people buying the S2X Ultras don’t use it. I used to use the sylus daily, and I struggled when I switched to iPhone. I couldn’t imagine not having the stylus for input but I got used to it. The degrees of freedom, speed and overall flexibility of the stylus make it hard to beat. I’ve since found alternative devices for pen input (SuperNote A6 X2 Nomad and Boox Note Air 3C for instance) but having the option to use pen input on my phone any time is something I miss.
Foldables seem cool, but they cost a tad too much! Locally, the base level 256GB S24 Ultra is $2,450, and the base 256GB Z Fold6 is $3,050. The Ultra is already pretty expensive, but the Fold6 takes it up a notch. Don’t get me wrong, they are a lot of phone, but these sound more like high-end laptop prices. I do think the (full) folding phones are the new tablets – actual Android tablets feel like a neglected category, but the form factor and innovation continue to progress in foldables.
Like many have said, it feels like these are the early days of AI, akin to the early days of the web. There will likely be some kind of AI boom – I think the possibilities in the short term may be exaggerated but in the long term underestimated. We have no idea how it’s going to turn out, but it’s going to be something! AI is here to stay.