7 smartphone trends that really should stop in 2021

2020 was an important year for the smartphone industry in many ways. Not only did 5G become available for flagship devices, we got foldable devices with improved durability, and mid-range phones have vastly improved functionality.

It wasn’t all great though. For every welcome step in the industry in 2020, there was a trend that we wouldn’t like to continue in 2021. Here is our full list.

Hit 5G at the end of each name

It’s understandable that phones would get a “5G” suffix for the first year or two of 5G’s global availability, but support has become commonplace among flagship companies today. Hopefully the manufacturers will forego this naming convention for high-end phones next year. In view of the increasing prevalence, wouldn’t it make more sense for brands to use the “4G” moniker instead to identify 4G models?

Continue reading: What to expect from 5G and 5G smartphones in 2020

Another stupid trend in 2020 was a move from Verizon. It went a step further and slapped “UW 5G” on its phones, indicating ultra-broadband or mmWave 5G coverage. Probably the worst name in this regard is the Nokia 8 V 5G UW. How about just using the Nokia 8.3 Verizon?

Stop using plastic / glass panels on $ 1,000 phones

We have no problem with Samsung’s “Glasstic” – the brand of the brand for plastic that feels more like glass. Our real problem, however, is that the company decided to use glasstic for 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 over $ 900 on a high-end device. We hope Samsung will limit this material to devices such as the Galaxy A and Galaxy FE / Lite models. Alternatively, we would like the company to optimize the glasstic material so that it feels more like glass.

Another reason we had glasstic issues on the Note 20 is that Samsung hasn’t improved the phone’s spec sheet accordingly. I’m sure a lot of consumers wouldn’t mind plastic if the phone had a high refresh rate and / or more impressive cameras, but they didn’t get any of it.

Pointless 2MP cameras

One of the most annoying camera trends in the past two years has been the use of low quality 2MP sensors. It’s a transparent attempt to increase camera numbers. We’ve seen everyone from Xiaomi and Realme to Samsung and Oppo use this strategy, often using two 2-megapixel cameras so they can brag about offering quad rear cameras.

See also: Mega shootout for smartphones 2020 – the best camera phones tested

We definitely want more brands to adopt a quality-quantity approach to cameras in 2021. In other words, we want brands to improve their main, ultra-wide, or even macro cameras rather than just adding more lenses. If brands still insist on offering a macro lens, hopefully we’ll see higher resolution sensors and auto focus instead of token 2MP cameras.

Slow wired charging of lagging brands

It’s hard to believe that in 2020 you can actually buy phones with a charging speed of 65W or even 100W +, like the Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra and OnePlus 8T. Even harder to believe is that there are still flagship phones out there that don’t offer fast charging.

Connected: The Rise of Ultra-Fast Charging – How 2020 changed the way we charge our phones

Devices like the Motorola Edge Plus and Google Pixel 5 reach a disappointing 18 W, while the iPhone 12 series and LG V60 are slightly faster with 20 W and 25 W respectively. In any case, we would like more than 30W to be charged from all major flagship smartphones in 2021.

Some consumers fear that over time, fast charging could damage the battery. But what can stop brands from charging from 80 to 90%? After all, this is what several ultra-fast charging phones are already doing. Oppo also claimed that its Ace 2 battery capacity degrades to 90% after 800 cycles (i.e. two years) at 65W. Finally, brands could always ship a phone with fast charge, but disable it by default if they really wanted to.

Bad update commitments

Google has already committed to offering system updates for its Pixel phones for three years. Samsung also joined the club this year by offering Android version updates for some devices for three years. This was one of the few bright spots in this regard in 2020.

This year, OnePlus only confirmed an update for its Nord N10 and N100 phones, while Motorola believed it was promising a version update for its $ 1,000 Edge Plus phone. Moto eventually switched directions and switched back to two version updates, but why did we even have to go through this?

Between consumers holding on to their phones longer and the economic uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, it only makes sense that more brands keep getting involved in software updates.

Big price increases for flagships

Xiaomi, Realme and OnePlus offered flagships in 2020 at a higher price than their predecessors. Part of that is apparently due to higher silicon prices this year. Still, barring a few welcome surprises, seeing a shortage of affordable flagship phones in 2020 is pretty disappointing.

Read: The best flagship phones for 2019 are still worth buying in 2020

We also saw mmWave versions of phones cost around $ 100 more than the standard 5G versions. Some examples of this are the Verizon versions of the OnePlus 8 and Pixel 4a 5G. Hopefully we’ll see cheaper flagship phones in 2021, but we’re not holding our breath for mmWave phone prices to fall.

quality before quantity

One of the more annoying trends of the past few years is that many OEMs have a lot of phones with little differences. Do we really need to see all of the Realme Narzo series phones when the main Realme phones offer a similar experience? Do we really need seven or eight Redmi 9 variants if half is enough?

We’ve looked at this before, but we also want brands to tone down the rebranding a bit in 2021. Sure, there are good reasons to rebrand on occasion, but companies like Xiaomi have certainly gone overboard for their Poco brand. Even OnePlus couldn’t hold back with the N100 – essentially a redesigned Oppo A53.

---

Are there any other major smartphone trends you don’t want to see in 2021? Let us know in the comments!