Smartphones are exciting again

For many a year, smartphone design and features have stagnated into a familiar cycle of stuffing the yearly chipset upgrade and calling it a day. Yes, there are minor tweaks to screen resolution, brightness and clarity. There’s always some kind of upgrade to the cameras, but these are truly to only real things that visibly make a difference yearon-year. You can say that we’ve settled into an iterative smartphone formula. However, this year - 2023 to be exact if we somehow need to save this piece of text for posterity - saw a confluence of design and functionality that has breathed new life to the concept of a smartphone. No longer is a smartphone differentiated from one another based on paper specifications and I have found myself sitting up to take note of what I actually want out of my phone. Take what’s in this issue of HWM for example. Yes, you can still say that the Apple iPhone 15 series is another iteration of the iPhone formula and I will concede it. But, the A17 Pro is a turning point where a mobile processor is almost as powerful as its desktop counterpart. Google’s Pixel 8 series on the other hand, is leaning hard on generative AI with cloud-based computing thrown into the mix. For the first time, your smartphone is also an edge device, more connected than ever. Then we have a glimpse at Tecno’s flip-phone entry, proving that foldable phones have penetrated the mainstream market, and with it, the return of a more casual use case. The Xiaomi-Leica partnership has also expanded beyond just slapping a logo, integrating profile, colour, and processing unique to a brand. In each of these examples, we have a phone that excels in its chosen lane. I’m quite happy at this development and can’t wait to see what 2024 brings.