6 expectations of phones in 2022
After we have already presented various ‘top lists’ and annual overviews of 2021 at Androidworld, it is now time for a look ahead to 2022. What do we expect to see in the smartphone world for news and what do we like to see coming (back)? You can read it in this article.
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1. Update policy and sustainability as a selling point
It seems that the competition in 2022 will mainly take place in the ‘update policy arena’. Google and Samsung are currently still on top of the monkey rock, but manufacturers such as OnePlus, OPPO and Xiaomi are taking major steps in their update policy this year. We suspect that this battle will become more fierce in 2022 and that the update policy together with sustainability will really become a selling point. This is good news for consumers and our planet.
The longer updates keep coming in, the longer we can do with our smartphone. How long does a phone last? Although not everyone thinks that a strong update policy should be self-evident.
2. Development of foldables
Will 2022 really be the year of the foldable? We have been expecting it for a number of years, but in 2021 it was actually only Samsung who managed to bring a strong folding phone to the market with us. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 and the Z Flip 3 were good smartphones: a lot cheaper and they even brought butterflies in the stomach for some of us.
We expect to see more and better foldables from multiple manufacturers in 2022. For example, OPPO puts a lot of money into the development of foldables. Something we have already seen with the Oppo Find N. Will we also see the first rollable smartphone on the market from this brand in 2022? Motorola has also already revealed that it will introduce a new Razr next year. Enough reasons to look forward to more foldable violence in 2022.
3. (Even) faster charging
You can charge many smartphones very quickly these days. Especially manufacturers from China, such as OPPO, OnePlus and Xiaomi, excel in it. For example, you can charge the OnePlus 9 Pro with a power of 65 watts from 0 to 100 percent in about thirty minutes. Xiaomi went over that again with its Xiaomi 11T Pro. You can charge this with a power of no less than 120 watts. This smartphone is fully charged in about twenty minutes.
We expect that in 2022 even more smartphones will be able to charge even faster. The OPPO Find X5 is expected to be capable of fast charging with 80 watts, the Xiaomi 12 with 120 watts and the Realme GT 2 Pro and the OnePlus 10 Pro even with 125 watts. These smartphones will be fully charged within twenty minutes. Will brands such as Samsung and Sony also tack in 2022? We hope so. It is a function that, once you have used it, you will never want to lose it. Although we already saw limitations of fast charging this year.
4. More compact top smartphones
This is both an expectation and a silent wish. After all, how nice is it to be able to operate a smartphone with one hand? However, it is noticeable that almost no brand has a top smartphone in its range with a screen smaller than 6 inches. For example, in 2021 we only saw two really good smartphones with such a screen. The Pixel 4a from Google and the Zenfone 8 from Asus.
We were quite positive about the latter. Sebastien said the following in his review: ”What almost all devices have in common is that they have a large screen. As a result, you might forget how efficient and pleasant a phone with a smaller size can be, because you can do so much more work with one hand.”
With upcoming top smartphones, however, we see that a (small) movement has been started towards more compactness. For example, the Xiaomi 12 has a display of 6.28 inches and it is rumored that the ‘regular’ S22 will have a display of 6.06 inches. In short, the ‘the bigger-the better trend’ that has been going on for years, we hope to see less in the new year.
5. Fewer Cameras
We foresee that the days of five or more cameras on the backs of smartphones are slowly behind us. We still see many devices with five cameras, of which in most cases only two or three are really useful. Especially on budget smartphones, these other sensors are often a 2 MP macro camera, a 2 MP monochrome sensor or a depth sensor.
You know a macro camera isn’t a good addition when you get better results when you crop your shots with the main camera. For example, with recent devices such as the Xiaomi 12, we see ‘only’ three cameras and the OPPO Find X5 Pro is also expected to receive only three.
In terms of development, we do not expect any major leaps forward in the field of camera. We mainly expect to see larger sensors that can capture even more light. Rumor has it that OPPO is working on a retractable camera. Such tricks may surprise us in 2022.
6. Tablets are becoming popular again
‘Tablets are completely hip again’, that was the message that HMD Global, the company that bought the Nokia brand in 2016, recently gave us when asked why the company came up with its first tablet. Demand for tablets has grown for the first time in a long time since last year, according to HMD Global. That is why the end of 2021 was the time to launch the Nokia T20 tablet. The company also plans to bring more tablets to the market. We think that this trend could be continued by other manufacturers and that we will see more tablets, in different price categories. With the arrival of Android 12L, tablets are back hot.
What do you expect from 2022 and what would you like to see come (back)? Let us know in the comments below this article. And which smartphone are you most looking forward to? Let us know in this poll.
