The year 2019 was an excellent year for smartphones with prices getting more competitive and specs getting even better. We also saw a couple of game-changing smartphone features last year that made it to a couple of devices for now. But at MWC 2020, you can expect those unique features to become mainstream. Let's take a look at some of the trends.
The 100 megapixel monster
While original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) like OnePlus, Oppo, Realme, Xiaomi and Vivo, have successfully adopted higher 48 and 64-megapixel camera sensors, they have still failed to keep pace with the best that Apple, Samsung and Huawei have on offer.
Apple and Samsung have both utilised 12-megapixel sensor to great effect, effectively proving megapixel count alone doesn't define a good camera. However, Xiaomi's Mi 10 Pro with its 108-megapixel Samsung's ISOCELL Bright HMX sensor and 8P lens changed the game, topping DxOMark's charts and proving. The 108-megapixel sensor will arrive on more flagship smartphones this year; possibly starting with the Galaxy S20 and Xiaomi's Mi 10 series.
Super-fast charging across the board
Smartphone batteries have gotten bigger in 2019 with 4,000 mAh becoming the standard for most handsets, let alone flagship phones. However, that pales in comparison to some of the insane charging speeds. Take for example Realme, that offered 50W fast charging on the Realme X2 Pro, which charges up that 4,000 mAh in little over 30 minutes.
And, then there was the Huawei Mate 30 Pro, whose 27W wireless charging support is faster than the wired charging speed on most smartphones. We expect several OEM to embrace the faster-charging speeds in 2020.
8K video recording
4K video recording has become commonplace in smartphones. Flagships often take it up a notch, offering 4K video recording at 60 fps. And while the Nubia Red Magic 3 brought 8K video recording into the mix, it was only limited to 15 fps. At MWC 2020, we expect to see some of the more premium brands like Samsung, Apple, and Huawei offering 8K video recording at possibly 30 and even 60 frames per second.
Faster and sharper go hand-in-hand
The Razer Phone was the first to implement the 120Hz refresh rate on a smartphone display in 2017. However, 2019 saw the implementation of higher refresh rates on both LCD and AMOLED panels. Moreover, manufacturers went from offering higher refresh rate FHD+ panels to higher refresh rate QHD+ screens. The 120Hz screen refresh rate was limited to a 1080p AMOLED display, but that's about to change this year.
The Nubia Red Magic 5G is expected to get the world's first 144Hz smartphone display, while the 120Hz QHD+ AMOLED display has already been confirmed by OnePlus. In 2020, we expect most of the premium flagship smartphone to feature higher refresh rate QHD+ displays, something that was limited to the OnePlus 7T Pro, OnePlus 7 Pro and Pixel 4 series in 2019.
The new notch for 2020
Although this last one may not count as an emerging 2020 trend, we thought it was worth exploring. In 2019, the fate of the notch was undecided with manufacturers opting for punch-holes, waterdrop, pop-up cameras, and flipping cameras. However, towards the end of 2019, it is becoming evident that the punch-hole display has become increasingly popular when dealing with the notch. In the span of just two months, we've seen Samsung, Honor, Vivo, Realme and Xiaomi all adopt punch-hole displays. While we'll have to wait until 2021 or even later for the under-display camera to become mainstream, the punch-hole notch is here to stay in 2020.
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