Last but not least, 2020 was a very good year for smartphones. We have seen a number of compelling products at different prices. There were even some interesting surprises that shook our expectations for the year. We’re excited to see what’s in store for us in 2021.
I don’t think too many people would have predicted how 2020 would turn out, but we’ll do our best to look at a crystal ball over the next twelve months. These are some of the Android Authority The best and best forecasts from employees for 2021.
5G, 5G, 5G
5G has become increasingly profitable over the course of 2020 and is expected to become mainstream technology in 2021. In the next twelve months, you will definitely learn a lot more about faster data speeds, improved coverage, and new devices.
For starters, Carrier 5G rollouts will gain momentum in the coming year. Coverage will also improve with the addition of low band frequencies and FDD spectrum below 6 GHz to various networks around the world. At the same time, top 5G speeds in cities will improve as a number of countries switch on their first mmWave frequencies in 2021. Networks in Europe, China, Latin America, Australia and parts of Southeast Asia are upgrading their mmWave to start next year. Although it’s not that 4G LTE isn’t pretty fast already anyway.
Continue reading: 5G in 2021: Here’s what to expect
At the same time, owning a 5G handset is even cheaper than this year. In 2020, inexpensive 5G phones like the Google Pixel 4a 5G and OnePlus Nord came on the market, which are equipped with cheaper chipsets. The days of paying $ 1,000 for 5G are already behind us. The introduction of budget-conscious 5G processors from Qualcomm and MediaTek that will be as low as the Snapdragon 400 series suggests that even budget phones will get 5G in 2021.
However, 5G may not make much of a difference to our everyday phone use. There is still a lot of landmass to cover before 4G can fill the gap. That said, we will almost certainly learn more about the technology in the course of 2021.
Cheaper foldable phones
Recognition: Eric Zeman / Android Authority
Foldable phones are one of the most exciting innovations in the mobile space. However, high prices have so far kept them away from most consumers. We continue to assume that foldable cell phones will remain limited to the upper tier of the market for the foreseeable future, but may be slightly cheaper than the $ 1,500 price tags we’ve seen so far.
At the beginning of December, Samsung had already pointed out “more accessible” leaflets on the way to 2021. According to rumors, up to four Samsung leaflets were released in 2021. This includes two Galaxy Z Fold 3 variants and two Z Flip 2 editions. A larger selection of cell phones is an indication of greater price diversity. Surely there will be an option that costs less than $ 1,000.
Connected: The best foldable phones you can get
The smartphone bending market should also become more competitive. And more competition is always a good thing for prices. We expect new leaflets from Huawei and LG in 2021. We have also seen concepts from TCL, Oppo and Xiaomi that have not yet hit the market. Foldable devices are still in their infancy and certainly won’t be particularly affordable in 2021, but the market is poised to give us a little more choice in the coming year.
Hard times for Intel
Time for a broader technical prediction: We don’t expect a good year for Intel.
With the introduction of AMD’s Zen 3 architecture, Intel’s long-time rival took the crown of PC performance. This increased Intel’s market share in the gaming and high-performance PC market. Because of stagnant advances in foundries, Intel is lagging behind on transistor density and silicon efficiency. The ongoing delays in the roadmap have not convinced the industry that Intel will resolve its manufacturing problems anytime soon. Intel’s 7nm chips have now been delayed until 2022.
The last hammer blow came at the end of the year when Apple kicked off the transition to its in-house PC silicon. As a major customer, the loss could reduce sales of Intel chips by millions of units in the years to come. In fact, parts of the PC industry, from laptops to servers, are increasingly considering moving to the more energy efficient Arm CPU architecture. Intel’s traditional markets are all under attack.
Intel faces an uphill battle in 2021.
However, Intel has some interesting ideas in the pipeline for 2021. The Alter Lake desktop chips planned for H2 2021 offer a hybrid architecture with large and small power cores. It’s an idea that is no worlds away from Arm’s big.LITTLE. Intel also has new laptop chips under the Tiger Lake-H banner. However, these will not stop Apple from moving towards internal silicon. Windows laptops may benefit from this, but it’s just like Windows on Arm is getting more interest now that Apple made the Arm conversation mainstream.
Intel will also be entering the GPU market with its in-house XE card to keep up with options from AMD and Nvidia. However, it’s unlikely that Intel’s first-generation silicon will offer these two companies much competition for top-notch graphics performance. It remains to be seen what appeal these GPUs will have for gamers.
Intel is far from going up and down, but it faces an uphill battle to regain much-needed momentum. Much of Intel’s success in 2021 will depend on whether the new hybrid CPU and graphics architectures kick off with a bang or a whimper. Immediate success is a major challenge for any first generation product.
Selfie cameras under the display
In-display fingerprint scanners are a staple of the modern smartphone market. If our prediction is correct, we could soon be saying the same thing about under-display selfie cameras.
ZTE piqued its competitors with the first commercially available phone with a built-in selfie camera. The otherwise unremarkable Axon 20 5G takes pretty blurry photos with its front-facing camera, but the technology behind it could be a sign of the future.
Samsung is reportedly preparing its first under-display selfie camera, which is expected to be used in one of the brand’s foldable phones in 2021. Samsung is not alone, however. Oppo presented a prototype back in 2019, but has not yet presented a commercial product. Xiaomi announced that it is also developing its own technology for sub-display cameras. The first cell phones are expected to hit the market in 2021. Still, the company has previously expressed reservations about how good this technology can be.
We should probably ease the expectations for these hidden smartphone cameras. The technology has been around for a while, but the Axon 20 5G shows that image quality is not quite up to standard. There may also be other tradeoffs when moving to in-display solutions, with manufacturers primarily choosing the hole. We want under-display selfie cameras to become a reality, but be prepared for a first-generation experience in 2021.
Rebirth of the compact flagship
Recognition: David Imel / Android Authority
Some of our favorite smartphones for 2020 are smaller than the market trend for 6.7-inch and larger flagships. The Google Pixel 4a and the Apple iPhone SE are two exceptionally small and brilliant phones. The slim Sony Xperia 5 II as well as the smaller versions of the iPhone 12 and Galaxy S20 are also some of our favorite picks over their gigantic siblings Max and Ultra.
Specifications and screen area are nice, but a phone needs to be comfortable to hold too. We forecast or maybe hope to see a few more compact (or at least under 6 inch) phones in 2021 to capitalize on this trend. And not just at lower prices. Why can’t we have a compact phone with a full camera setup too?
Sales will ultimately decide whether the compact flagship will make a major comeback in the coming months. However, if the iPhone SE and the latest Google Pixels prove to be as popular as their reviews indicate, we’ll likely see at least a few more compact smartphones later in 2021.
A bigger case for cloud games
OK, Google Stadia didn’t exactly take the world by storm. Additionally, cloud games are taking a back seat to all new console and graphics card news. However, 2021 could prove to be a solid year for cloud gaming platforms, especially given the current state of high-end gaming.
Getting your hands on the latest PlayStation or Xbox is quite difficult for a start. The hardware situation on the PC market is even worse: Nvidia RTX 3000 and AMD 6000 series graphics cards are practically nowhere to be found. Cloud games could help convince customers with high-profile games and great graphics until problems with the hardware supply are resolved. Some customers may even stick with it if cloud gaming convinces them.
But even if you can buy a new console or graphics card, should you? Given that many titles have been suffering from questionable performance recently, even on high-end hardware, gigantic patches for the first day, and hours of downloading regular updates, the plug-in and the in-game nature of cloud games is more compelling than ever before. We shouldn’t forget that faster 5G networks are increasingly allowing gamers to stream AAA titles wherever they are.
We certainly don’t expect cloud gaming to overtake traditional gaming platforms anytime soon, if at all. However, many gamers may start thinking about the benefits of cloud gaming while freshening up the order queue and thumbing thumbs as they download patches.
What about your predictions?
That ranges from Android Authority Look at crystal ball. What are your biggest predictions for smartphones and technology in general in 2021?