Credit: Eric Zeman / Android Authority
2020 was an important year for the smartphone industry in many ways. The 5G has become available for more than just flagship devices, we have folds with improved durability, and mid-range phones have taken a big step in features.
But not everything was great. For every welcome move in the industry in 2020, there was a trend that we would not like to see continued in 2021. Here is our complete list.
Putting 5G at the end of each name
It is understandable that we saw phones receiving the suffix “5G” in the first two years of global availability of 5G, but support has become common among flagships today. Hopefully, manufacturers will abandon this naming convention for next-generation phones next year. Since they are set to become less common, wouldn’t it make more sense for brands to use the nickname “4G” to denote 4G models?
Read More: What to expect from 5G and 5G smartphones in 2020
Another silly trend seen in 2020 was a shift from Verizon. She took it a step further and placed “UW 5G” on her phones, denoting ultra-broadband coverage or mmWave 5G. Probably the worst name in this regard is Nokia 8 V 5G UW. How about calling it Nokia 8.3 Verizon?
Stop using plastic / glasstic on $ 1,000 phones
Credit: Oliver Cragg / Android Authority
We have no problem with Samsung’s “glasstic” – the brand’s view of plastic that was made to look more like glass. Our real problem, however, is that the company chose to use glasstic on the $ 1,000 Galaxy Note 20.
It’s one thing to use a plastic design that looks and feels like plastic on a cheaper phone, but it’s another thing when you’re spending more than $ 900 on a high-end device. We expect Samsung to restrict this material to devices such as the Galaxy A series and Galaxy FE / Lite models. Alternatively, we would like to see the tight fit of the glasstic material to look more like glass.
Another reason why we had problems with glasstic on the Note 20 is because Samsung did not enforce the phone’s spec sheet accordingly. I’m sure many consumers wouldn’t mind plastic if it meant that the phone has a high refresh rate and / or more impressive cameras, but they didn’t understand any of that.
Useless 2MP cameras
Credit: Ryan-Thomas Shaw / Android Authority
One of the most annoying trends in cameras over the past two years has been the use of low-quality 2MP sensors. It is a transparent attempt to increase the number of cameras. We have seen everyone, from Xiaomi and Realme to Samsung and Oppo, adopt this strategy, usually using two 2 MP cameras so they can boast of offering quad rear cameras.
See too: 2020 mega shooting for smartphones – the best tested camera phones
We would definitely like to see more brands decide on a quality rather than quantity approach to cameras in 2021. In other words, we would like brands to improve their main, ultra-wide or even macro cameras, rather than simply adding more lenses. In the latter case, if brands still insist on offering a macro lens, then we expect to see higher resolution sensors with auto focus instead of symbolic 2MP cameras.
Slow loading of delayed tags
Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority
It’s hard to believe that you can actually buy phones with charging speeds of 65 W or even 100 W + in 2020, like the Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra and the OnePlus 8T. What is even more difficult to believe is that there are still flagship phones that do not offer fast charging.
Related: The rise of ultra-fast charging – how 2020 changed the way we recharge our phones
Devices like the Motorola Edge Plus and Google Pixel 5 reach a disappointing 18 W, while the iPhone 12 and LG V60 series are slightly faster with 20 W and 25 W, respectively. Anyway, we would like to see 30W + charging all major flagship smartphones as a trend in 2021.
Some consumers fear that fast charging may degrade the battery over time, but what prevents brands from charging slowly from 80 to 90% onwards? After all, this is what many ultra-fast charging phones already do. Oppo also claimed that its Ace 2 battery degrades to 90% of capacity after 800 cycles (ie, two years) of 65W of charge. Finally, brands can always send a fast-charging phone, but disable it by default if they really want to.
Bad update commitments
Credit: Eric Zeman / Android Authority
Google is already committed to offering three years of system updates for its Pixel phones. Samsung also joined the club this year, offering a three-year commitment to Android version updates for some devices. This was one of the few positive points in this regard in 2020.
The year saw OnePlus confirm just one update for its Nord N10 and N100 phones, while Motorola thought it could do well with a $ 1,000 version upgrade for its Edge Plus phone. Moto eventually changed course and returned for two version updates, but why do we need to go through this in the first place?
Among consumers holding their phones for a longer period of time and the economic uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, it only makes sense for more brands to remain committed to software updates.
Major price increases for flagships
OnePlus 8T
Credit: Ryan-Thomas Shaw / Android Authority
Xiaomi, Realme and OnePlus offered the 2020 flagships at a higher price than their predecessors. Part of this is apparently due to higher silicon prices this year. However, aside from some welcome surprises, it is still quite disappointing to see a shortage of popular car phones in 2020.
Read: The best flagship phones of 2019 are still worth buying in 2020
We also saw the mmWave versions of phones costing about $ 100 more expensive than the standard 5G versions. Some examples of this include Verizon’s versions of OnePlus 8 and Pixel 4a 5G. Hopefully, we will see the most reasonably priced flagship phones in 2021, but we are not holding our breath for mmWave phones to drop in price.
Quality over quantity
Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority
One of the most annoying trends in recent years is that many OEMs are offering a ton of phones, with only minor differences between them. Do we really need to see all the Realme Narzo series phones when the Realme mainline phones offer a similar experience? Do we really need seven or eight variants of the Redmi 9 when half would suffice?
We’ve talked about this before, but we’d also like to see brands reduce the brand overhaul a little in 2021. Of course, there are occasionally good reasons for the brand overhaul, but companies like Xiaomi certainly have overplayed their Poco brand. Even the OnePlus was unable to cope with the N100 – essentially a renamed Oppo A53.
Are there any other important smartphone trends that you wouldn’t want to see in 2021? Let us know in the comments!