Next year's phones

[XVentura]

Maybe this will turn into a catch-all thread for speculation about future phones, maybe it won't, but I wanted to create a thread specifically to discuss phones that will come in 2015.

Why 2015? Because we're about to make one of those jumps in design, IMO.

The reason? New SoCs. If you look at the new premium chips that Qualcomm will offer next year, they are octo-core 64-bit chips that will perform as well as modern day chips but consume significantly lower power. This will enable a much smaller battery.

Proof of concept? The Oppo R5. They're not using the new premium chip but they're using a 64-bit octo-core chip which is clocked much lower than premium chips today. In comparison to something like the Nexus 5, the chip is clocked at a speed that is 15% lower, and thus they're able to use a battery that's also 15% smaller. This enables them to make the phone ridiculously thin and light whilst maintaining battery life and performance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OAQUcQqDD0

Now let's take a look back at HTC's designs for their flagships for the past 3 years.

In 2012, they had the HTC One X, with a width of 8.9mm.
In 2013, they had the HTC One M7, with a width of 9.3mm.
In 2014, they had the HTC One M8, with a width of 9.4mm.

They haven't been able to make their phones thinner, even though the screen size has gotten larger with each iteration. With a bigger screen size and thus more room in the phone to arrange the internals, they were still unable to create a thinner phone. It's because of the chips in the phones.

I'm hoping that next year's HTCs will be much thinner. I'm hoping that if they can prioritise the right features, they can create a phone that's only 6-7mm wide, which would be amazing to hold.

That's, of course, assuming that battery life is unchanged ie. easily lasts one full day of use.

I know everyone wants more battery life but a larger battery means a heavier phone. The Nexus 6 is beautiful but its weight is edging very close to 200g. That's on the heavy side for me. I like thin and I like light because it's easy to carry, use and of course it feels nice in the hand and in the pocket.

I'm hoping next year will be a year full of thin, light and beautiful phones because the chips next year will not constrain the design of phones anymore.

 

[mattopotamus]

Batteries definitely need to improve as much as they can. I don't think phones need to get any thinner. That is actually a major reason the 6+ feels so cheap too many people...it is large and thin.

Unless you game on your phone, the power is already there and any improvements the average consumer will not see. If I can get a full 24 hours out of my phone with 6-7 SOT, I will be happy. That is already achievable. The next leap really needs to be days of battery, and that is many many years away until battery technology actually approves.

Samsung is seeing sales go down b.c people do not have the desire to upgrade like they did 2-3 years ago. If you have a phone today that has good battery it will be hard to feel like anything is a big upgrade.

 

[Fireblade]

As the processor isn't the biggest power consumer by far, a much smaller battery isn't a good idea.

 

[zOne31]

Smaller screens/footprint, bigger battery.

 

[XVentura]

As the processor isn't the biggest power consumer by far, a much smaller battery isn't a good idea.

If you could reduce power consumption by 10-15%, that will allow for a smaller battery. A smaller battery will lead to thinner designs.

Of course, the screen is the biggest consumer of battery but screen technology is also continuing to become much more power efficient.

 

[MRU]

Smaller screens/footprint, bigger battery.

Yep the drive to 'phablet' sized phones is creating a gap. Not everyone want's a phone bigger than 5", but at the same token - they likewise do not want to sacrifice latest specs / performance over a bigger brethren device either.

A push back to 4.7-5" with improved more than 2 day battery life, fantastic camera, wireless charging, micro SD card support and decent sound from the device too would be very tempting to many consumers for who'm now feel alienated by this drive to bigger screened (albeit thinner) devices.

 

[Wrathwitch]

Regardless of what comes (I must resist....) actually I HAVE to resist. I had to buy my Note 4 outright due to a legacy plan. So I really need to milk this phone for at LEAST 2 years. It's going to be hard because mobile tech is my addiction.....

So regardless of what may come.. Note 4 for me!

Unless I win the lottery of course!

 

[Dontazemebro]

I actually like a little heft to my phones. The HTC one X was the perfect example. It felt sturdy and durable. I also like how the iPhone 5s felt, it also had that quality heft to it. Personally, I think some devices are too thin and I would definitely sacrifice thinness for prolonged battery life.

Last but not least as it pertains to Android. I would like to see battery life during standby time get appreciably better. IOS has this pegged, now it's time for Android to get on board.

 

[mattopotamus]

Yep the drive to 'phablet' sized phones is creating a gap. Not everyone want's a phone bigger than 5", but at the same token - they likewise do not want to sacrifice latest specs / performance over a bigger brethren device either.

A push back to 4.7-5" with improved more than 2 day battery life, fantastic camera, wireless charging, micro SD card support and decent sound from the device too would be very tempting to many consumers for who'm now feel alienated by this drive to bigger screened (albeit thinner) devices.

This is actually a good point. The z3c and alpha are the only phone that fit bill right now.

 

[TacticalDesire]

I am willing to sacrifice thickness for battery life. That's why the droid turbo is so appealing. It's not a phablet and has 2 days of solid battery life. Give me a thicker phone if it means better battery. iPhones are way too thin to use comfortably for me and Apple has reached the point of diminishing returns. There is such a thing as too thin and we have come to that point. So far only Sony and motorola seem to get it.

 

[zOne31]

I am willing to sacrifice thickness for battery life. That's why the droid turbo is so appealing. It's not a phablet and has 2 days of solid battery life. Give me a thicker phone if it means better battery. iPhones are way too thin to use comfortably for me and Apple has reached the point of diminishing returns. There is such a thing as too thin and we have come to that point. So far only Sony and motorola seem to get it.

I agree. Give me a thicker phone and larger battery life any day. I wished Motorola could bring their battery prowess to their non Droid lineup... It's a shame that the Moto X and G have such poor battery life.

 

[Savor]

I prefer thicker with better battery life myself. The thing I don't mind seeing thinner are the bezels as seen from Sharp and recently LG.

My next phone will likely be Sony Xperia Z4. But Sony better ditch the glass rear that they put on almost every Xperia phone these days including the M2 and L. That's the only change in design I don't mind and maybe foldable screens that can revolutionize the tablets/phablets.

Lately, I have been checking this app called CPU Identifier. Anybody with Android should check it out. Qualcomm is so far ahead of everybody. I was getting 46,000+ scores on my Xiaomi using that app. I have been becoming more of a fan of Qualcomm as of late when it comes to SoC's. People should checkout their commercials esp SNAPDRAGON - BETTER CORES, NOT MORE CORES. They completely trashed on MediaTek's theory on having octa-cores and recycling the same cores. Qualcomm refers to MediaTek as Our Direct Competitor but you can see the same orange and blue colors is used by MediaTek.

You can even check Android Authority and the guy easily picked Qualcomm over MediaTek. The only knock is Qualcomm can be expensive and their latest SoC is usually found on $500 smartphones. This is why companies like Xiaomi and OnePlus are KEY as they seem to only offer Snapdragon 801's for under $350 while Nexus devices have ditched the price war between them.

I only care of a few things from a phone -
Fast performance
Long battery life
Great price
Decent enough camera

I'm not super picky on design or thinness.

 

[jrswizzle]

Give me the thinnest phone that lasts a full day on a single charge and I'm sold.

Ahh, the iPhone 6 and 6+ fit that bill.

 

[g0df4th3r]

Give me the thinnest phone that lasts a full day on a single charge and I'm sold.

Ahh, the iPhone 6 and 6+ fit that bill.

Yeah but they'll be considered old in a few a months so I'll put down the koolaid for now.

I'm excited to see the next HTC M9 and S6. We all know what the iPhone 6S or 6S Plus would look like so nothing to get excited about.

 

[jrswizzle]

Yeah but they'll be considered old in a few a months so I'll put down the koolaid for now.

I'm excited to see the next HTC M9 and S6. We all know what the iPhone 6S or 6S Plus would look like so nothing to get excited about.

Lol, "old".....ahh the fast moving conveyor belt of technology.

We do know what the 6S and 6S+ will LOOK like most likely....but there's always SOMETHING to be excited for with any new technology release.

At this point though, I'm enjoying my still brand new 6 and 6+.

Next year will come quick enough without sitting here worrying/thinking about it.

 

[OceanView]

I don't mind thinner phones as long as battery life can be as long or longer than current phones.
But thinner phones could be prone to bend easier.

 

[Savor]

Personally, I was never into the thinness craze helped started by the original Motorola RAZR V3 back in late-2004 to 2006. My two most comfortable phones I ever held in my hands was the original iPhone and Nexus One. Both with rounded edges, metal, and 11.5/11.6mm thickness. My iPhone 2G and MyPhone QTV38 could actually fit in that Nexus One case it came with. I never liked the boxy edges of the iPhone 4 & the elongated screen of the 5 series. And the iPhone 6 series are a tad to tall for one-handed and some pockets. The first iPhone and Nexus were just about right for me in terms of dimensions and comfort. Thinness can be such an overrated requirement from users and OEM's. I don't want our phones to become credit card thin.

 

[Ffosse]

I'll probably upgrade from the Z3 Compact to the Z5 Compact in a year's time.

 

[MindsEye]

While i'm not interested in seeing phones get thicker i'm also not overly concerned with how thin they can become. Comfort is the only thing that should factor into the design equation whether that is at 10mm, 6mm or somewhere in between.


As for 2015, other than 64bit SOCs Flagships, i do wonder if there will be any other technological advancements. Seems like a long time since we've seen anything truly interesting. Who knows, maybe OEMs might start using 32GB on board storage minimum and offer 64GB models. That would be amazing.

 

[Stuntman06]

I know everyone wants more battery life but a larger battery means a heavier phone. The Nexus 6 is beautiful but its weight is edging very close to 200g. That's on the heavy side for me. I like thin and I like light because it's easy to carry, use and of course it feels nice in the hand and in the pocket.

I'm hoping next year will be a year full of thin, light and beautiful phones because the chips next year will not constrain the design of phones anymore.

I'm hoping they abandon thinness and just slap a bigger battery on the phones. This year I got an extended battery for my Galaxy S3 which about doubled it thickness. I have absolutely no issues with the increased thickness and weight of the phone. I want my phone battery to last all day with my extremely heavy use. I'm not trying to slice tomatoes with my phone.

I'm looking forward to Project Ara phones to be commercially available. I'm hoping someone will create a landscape slider keyboard module for the phone. I plan on getting a new phone some time next year and I have my eye on an Ara phone.

 

[Tsuchiya]

In a lot of ways, I think the ball is in Samsungs court. The S5 was solid but underwhelming, but the Alpha and Note 4 show a more focused direction.

We'll see if the Galaxy S line is still their flagship or not...

 

[ecrispy]

What is this obsession with thin? 9mm is thin enough!

I agree that 64-bit SoC's will be huge, but because of ARM v8 and performance/battery improvements. I'd much rather have the same battery size as today with increased battery life, rather than a smaller battery in thinner phone.

 

[wilky76]

The move to 64bit on all top end smartphones will be the 2015 highlight just as QHD screens was for 2014.

HTC
Will be first out the door with the M9 if that what they call it with a 5.2" QHD screen 808 snapdragon 3GB of ram & finally a decent camera fingers crossed & the return of OIS.

Samsung S6
Rumor has it it going to be totally redesigned ie Project Zero,
Same again with a 5.2" QHD screen Snapdragon 808 chipset or latest Exynos chipset 3GB of ram new more rounded aluminium body design & hopefully a much less bloated touchwiz. along with a improved version of it's ISOCELL camera with OIS this time around F2.0 lens so much better in low light.

Sony Z4
5.5" QHD IPS tech display, along with the same Snapdragon 808 & maybe 4GB of ram, maybe a redesign of the body with less glass, and like the others improvements in the camera department.


LG G4
Same 5.5" QHD display as last year, this time using a much better display, same goes again with the 808 snapdragon and maybe 4GB of ram, improvements to the camera with a better Sony sensor, design might follow Samsung and go for a more premium aluminium body rather than plastic.

All the main spring & early Summer 2015 smartphones will have the usual improvements to the latest wifi standard,Bluetooth,NFC & GPS ect, and hopefully we finally say goodbye to the 16GB minimum storage as 32GB becomes the new standard & improvements in the battery department aswell.

 

[Savor]

Next year's phones...

- Improving specs

- Maturing OSes

- Lower prices

- Longer battery life

That's it for me. I don't need phones to get any thinner or increase the screen resolution to 2K. From a design standpoint, perhaps far more durable material can be used and better ergonomics. I like that Motorola took cues from Nokia and we can change the backs and customize using Moto Maker. Same applies now to OnePlus One and Xiaomi's Mi 4. Perhaps I can get into Project Ara but that could be too complicated for average customers.

 

[dballard]

- Longer battery life

Yes please!