Smartphone trends to watch in 2019

2018 is a great year of smartphones. But, 2019 is expected to be even better. We could to see a lot of 2018 mobile tech to mature this year. Here are some of them.

nubia X

Smartphone trends to watch in 2019

End of the notch era

The first two phones with a notch are the Sharp Aquos S2 and the Essential PH-1 to create smartphones with near bezel-less screen design. But, the brand who popularized it when they introduced the iPhone X last 2017. It was a love or hate love affair though.

OPPO Find X

In 2018, we saw a lot of brands like OPPO and Vivo tried to make the notch smaller. Those two Chinese companies introduced the waterdrop and halo notch with a very small cutout on top.

In 2018, we also saw OPPO and Vivo successful make a phone with bezel-less design, but without a notch for the earpiece, sensors, and selfie camera. Vivo created a pop-up camera system to hide the selfie camera on the NEX S and OPPO opted for the motorized sliding camera for the Find X.

Punch hole camera

But, I think the notch era will truly end this year of 2019. Brands like Samsung and Huawei/Honor have already started the punch hole in the display revolution. For me, it is a neater implementation of a full screen design without the need of a notch, a pop-up camera, or a sliding cameras.

Vivo NEX Dual Display Edition

The alternative to the In-Display camera system is the dual-display technology. nubia started it when they launch the nubia X and Vivo followed when they announced the NEX Dual Display.

AI chip takeover!

Kirin 980 AI chip

More and more smartphone makers will use the 7nm chipsets on their flagship smartphones in 2019. Huawei and Honor will continue to use the Kirin 980 with Dual-NPU for AI or maybe even launch the Kirin 990 on a really fast upcoming smartphone this year.

Other manufacturers will use the Snapdragon 855 7nm solution for their high-end phones. Most likely, we will see it on the flagship devices of Xiaomi, OnePlus, OPPO, Vivo, and more soon. Samsung could also have it for the US version of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S10

Other parts of the world will get the 8nm Exynos chip instead.

We can expect the next iPhone to come with an improved 7nm SoC versus the current 7nm A12 chip. All of those chips are assisted by AI!

Helio P90

But, even mid-range smartphones will experience improved AI as well. MediaTek recently announced the Helio P90, a 12nm mid-range chip with flagship grade AI scores.

More and more cameras

Nokia 9 PureView

Early in 2018, Huawei announced the P20 Pro, the first smartphone with Leica triple cameras. Late in 2018, Samsung announced the Galaxy A9 (2018), the first smartphone with four cameras at the back in total. In 2019, new leaks revealed that Nokia will launch a phone with five rear cameras in total!

Galaxy A9 with four cameras

We can expect manufacturers to make phones with triple cameras a standard this year. Phones with four or five cameras will be available on high-end smartphones.

We will also see the rise of ToF 3D cameras this year. 

Those cameras are expected to be assisted by AI to improve overall imaging performance 

Bigger battery with faster and safer charging speeds

SuperVOOC

In 2018, we saw phones like the Huawei Mate 20 Pro with massive 4,200mAh battery and incredible charging speeds. Its 40W SuperCharge tech can charge its big 4,200mAh battery in just 1 hour and 10 minutes.

OPPO also introduced the SuperVOOC solution. The R17 Pro has a pair of 1,850mAh of battery (total of 3,700mAh). OPPO's 50W SuperVOOC fast charging solution can fully charge the phone from 0 to 100 percent in 40 minutes.

This 2019, we can expect phone makers to make more smartphones with bigger battery capacity on a slim body. Charging solutions will be safer and faster as well.

More phone makers will also use a faster wireless charging solution like the Mate 20 Pro with 15W fast charger.

Start of the 5G revolution

MediaTek 5G

2019 is the year where 5G will globally launch. So this year will also be the start of the 5G revolution.

4G will still be there, but more and more phone makers will use 5G on their high-end devices this year. We won't be surprised if the first mid-range phone with 5G will be released this year as well.

Tech brands like Huawei, Qualcomm, MediaTek, and Samsung will surely make their 5G ready chips and solutions more available this year.

Other tech

Phones with In-Display fingerprint scanners

We can also expect to see the maturity of the In-Display fingerprint scanners, face unlock, and eSIM in 2019. Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S10 is expected to come with an in-display ultrasonic fingerprint sensor

Smartphones should also come with better speakers and wireless lossless audio support this year.

What do you guys think? Do you have anything to add? Just let us know!