2024 is gone and while it hasn’t exactly been a big year for smartphone innovation, that doesn’t mean there haven’t been some exceptional devices released in 2024. Here are the five that stand out most to me.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
Let’s start strong with the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. This phone has a unique feature that for some reason remains exclusive to it, and in 2025 it seems only its successor will be able to claim it.
I’m of course talking about the anti-reflective coating on the Gorilla Glass armor that sits on top of the AMOLED display. Long established in the world of wrist watches since the advent of the sapphire crystal, it basically does what it says – reduces reflections, and in the case of the S24 Ultra too.
You can clearly see the difference even in pictures like this
Unlike watches, where most have such a coating on the underside of the sapphire, and some have it on both the bottom and top, with smartphones I appreciate the fact that there is a display panel under the glass, allowing it to be placed It becomes impossible. Such coating under the glass because it will then be in contact with the screen. This means that the coating will deteriorate over time and we have already seen reports of this happening.
I don’t think this is an issue, the issue is that Samsung is not thinking about this in advance and not setting up an annual refreshing service for the AR coating on your S24 Ultra for a nominal fee or even for free Is (let’s say) since you’re already paying so much for the device. Hopefully we will see this soon as the S25 Ultra is also rumored to get a similar coating.
But all this means that it’s a game changer for usability, especially for people like me whose eyes are very sensitive to light reflecting off things at odd angles. This also has the added benefit of making the screen appear brighter than other panels with similar objective brightness, since the display doesn’t have to fight all those reflections in the process.
Speaking of usability, the S24 Ultra has one very significant problem due to its very sharp corners. This is only a problem if you don’t use a case, because if you do, how curved it is will depend on the model of the case. But using it “naked” with those sharp corners is definitely not a very comfortable experience in the long run, keep that in mind. Thankfully, Samsung intends to rectify this problem for the next generation.
There’s not much else to say about the S24 Ultra – it has all the top specs, it has very good (though probably not the best) cameras, it even has a stylus built-in, and with One UI 7 it feels like a Samsung. Finally getting serious about caring about the software experience and especially the intuitiveness of software interactions. It took many, many years, but we may finally be getting there – so with that in mind, the S24 Ultra, with the inevitable upcoming deals after its successor is released, is actually a pretty good buy in early 2025. Can be made.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
| 256GB 12GB RAM | ₹ 97,999 |
$775.00 |
| 512GB 12GB RAM | ₹ 139,999 |
$839.45 |
| Show all prices | ||
Now let’s move on to foldables, and here are a few I want to talk about. While Samsung has maintained its reputation in this area, Vivo, Honor, Huawei and Xiaomi have made some big strides this year in solidifying foldables as a mainstream product category on the one hand, and towards the future of smartphones on the other.
Vivo X Fold3 Pro, Honor Magic V3
Vivo talk started. But we are here.
Vivo X Fold3 Pro
Sure, you might think a few millimeters or so aren’t that important, but in actual daily use every single millimeter means a difference in how tired your hands feel (or not) after an hour or two of non-stop use. . -Discontinue use. I’m in favor of even thinner foldables going forward, but even if we hit the wall of about 9mm, that’s great – these are barely thicker than the typical mainstream slab-style device now, and they’re mini -Can also be converted into a tablet! Water resistance is also improving across the industry, so I’d venture to say that we’re almost at the point where foldables have become commonplace – the only problem is still the price, which hasn’t come down as much as everyone else. Someone was expecting.
Honor Magic V3
So unfortunately these are still very much a luxury item. Most people definitely can’t live without a smartphone in this day and age, but most people definitely can’t live without it can do Can live without a folding smartphone, even if it’s better than a candybar-style device.
Vivo X Fold3 Pro
| 1 TB 16 GB RAM | $1,999.00 |
|
| Show all prices | ||
Honor Magic V3
| 256GB 12GB RAM | $1,379.00 |
$65.62 |
| 512GB 12GB RAM | $1,849.99 |
€1,399.46 |
| Show all prices | ||
huawei mate xt
When it comes to luxury products, there’s no better foldable than Huawei’s Mate XT. I bet you should look at it as a concept car – you wouldn’t buy it, but it gives a glimpse of what’s possible. Hopefully the “tri-fold” (shouldn’t we call it “bi-fold”?) form factor will be picked up by other companies in the coming years, as it fixes the main problem of book-style foldables. Does. Still there: Weird aspect ratio when unfolded. With the Mate XT you get an even bigger tablet when you open it up, but importantly, it also has a tablet-like aspect ratio, so it really feels like you’re using a standalone tablet.
The fact that the Mate XT comes after some extremely difficult years for Huawei following US sanctions against the company really makes the achievement of creating and releasing something like this even more extraordinary. If in five years we can have devices with this form factor at less than $1,500, we’ll be better off for it.
However, that may not be the case, because the truth is that all-screen, slab-style devices are probably the pinnacle of smartphone design, at least for the foreseeable future. There have been thousands of iterations on this design over the last decade and that means every single detail has been gradually perfected, so sometimes it’s hard to notice, but these improvements have resulted in something surprisingly powerful in our pocket. There are computers that are equally decently resistant to drops and scratches now. Most of the time it’s hard to be grateful for what you already have, but as someone who has been in this space for over a decade, I have to say that it has been an amazing journey.
And weird new form factors don’t always make as much sense as we techies would like (does anyone still use that term?). That said, I think tri-folds and rollables are the logical next step in smartphones and can’t wait for there to be plenty more to choose from, hopefully not at exorbitant prices.
xiaomi mix flip
My final choice is the Xiaomi Mix Flip because its cover display looks amazing. Yes, it’s subjective, yes, it’s superficial, but I stand by my opinion here. And before you say “but Moto”, sure, the Razer+ has a lot of covered screen, but it doesn’t have a flagship chipset and that’s a strange omission in my book. Its battery capacity is also sad, so that’s the point.
Suddenly Xiaomi made its first flip-style foldable in 2024 and, in my opinion, knocked it out of the park. It’s not just for me, though, rumor has it that sales have been very good and so the next version will come with some big changes – hopefully in the camera department, I might add. Let’s add an ultrawide, shall we?
xiaomi mix flip
| 512GB 12GB RAM | $955.00 |
€1,078.62 |
| Show all prices | ||
Anyway, this is my top 5 for 2024, and I look forward to 2025 and all the weird and interesting devices being released this year. And even boring ones that do their job well at a good price. Prices continuing to move upward across all sectors of the market are also incredibly important and I expect we’ll see a lot of these this year.
