2015 was
a good year for smartphones. Chock-full of innovation, the year saw a number of
new features making their debut and a way better price-to-performance ratio.
It is
expected that 2016 will see a bigger shift: (a lot) better features for low- to
mid-range smartphones, and better design & faster-than-ever performance for
high-end models. Here's a look at the 8 ways smartphones in the Indian market
are likely to change this year.
More 2K
& 4K screens :
2015 was
the year of 1080p Full HD screens on phones. Barely a couple of years ago,
1080p screens on TVs were the norm and now the same number of pixels are being
crammed into many phone displays. A handful of flagships were also given Quad
HD or 2K screens. This translates into a resolution of 2560x1440 pixels and
very high pixel densities. Some of the phones with 2K displays in 2015 include Samsung
Galaxy S6 (the entire range) and Note 5, Nexus 6P, HTC One M9+ and LG G4. And
Sony was the only one to go for serious overkill with a 4K screen on the Xperia
Z5 Premium.
This
phone has a resolution of 3840x2160 pixels and a density of 806ppi. To put that
into perspective, Apple's latest iPhone 6S Plus has less than half the pixel
density at 401ppi.
3GB &
4GB RAM to be the new standard:
The RAM
in the phone plays a large part in making everything run smoothly, especially
with a lot of apps running in the background. There was a time when you had to
constantly clean up the RAM, force quit background apps and run cleaner apps to
get the phone running smoothly. This stopped when 3GB RAM became common. There
were many flagships with 4GB RAM this year and this trend will continue.
In
addition, new flagships will most likely have the faster DDR4 RAM -- after all,
it's the combination of adequate RAM and high speed that make all the
difference. And finally, there will be the odd phone maker who wants to stand
out from the crowd with a 5GB or 6GB RAM smartphone.
Fingerprint
scanners on more sub-Rs 10,000 phones:
Fingerprint
scanners are a great way to secure your phone -- there's no need to remember
long passwords or complicated unlock patterns. The prints are saved on the
device itself so security is not compromised. Most of them now work quite fast
(read & unlock in under a second) and the added advantage is that thanks to
the ability to register multiple fingers, you can have multiple users for the same
device.
This
year, we saw fingerprint scanners make their way to sub Rs 10,000 phones --
CoolPad Note 3, for example. At Rs 8,999 this phone was real value. We'll see
more of the same next year -- a lot more phones with fingerprint scanners in
the sub Rs 10,000 price range.
Thinner
bezels:
Bezels
are the black borders around the screen. Typically, cheaper devices tend to
have larger bezels but we've been seeing them get thinner than ever this year.
Part of the reason that Samsung Galaxy Note 5 looks so great is because of the
super-thin bezel.
Apart
from looking really cool, there are other advantages to having ultra-thin
bezels. A thin bezel reduces the overall size of the phone which makes it
easier to hold. There are a couple of disadvantages: accidental touch when you
finger creeps close to the edge and vulnerability to breakage.
32GB
storage will be the new base:
Storage
is becoming cheaper by the year while storage needs are growing exponentially.
On a phone with 16GB internal storage, you typically get about 12GB free which
gets filled up within a few months of usage. On flagship devices where you end
up paying premium prices, getting only 16GB storage seems like a rip-off.
In 2015,
we saw brands like Samsung, Sony and LG offer flagships with 32GB as the base
storage instead of 16GB. Even Indian brand Yu launched its flagship Yutopia
with a 32GB storage variant. In 2016, we expect more brands (including Apple)
to take this route offering either 32GB or 64GB base storage instead of the
paltry 16GB.
USB
Type-C will be the new standard:
USB
Type-C adoption has already started, with smartphones by OnePlus, Google Nexus
and Gionee already phones available with the Type-C port.
USB
Type-C has multiple advantages over the current microUSB port: it is
reversible, offers faster charging and is compatible with fast USB 3.0 speed
data transfers. Apple has used USB Type-C ports in its Macbook and there are
chances that the next iPhone or iPad will use it too. This would mean that USB
Type-C will become the new standard for USB across all smartphones.
More
camera innovations:
2015 saw
international as well as Indian brands offering unique camera propositions.
Cameras with dual lenses, phase detection autofocus, a front selfie flash and
laser autofocus were launched by various brands to entice customers. Camera
quality also improved dramatically with some flagships offering images
comparable to point and shoot cameras.
Going
ahead, we expect that optical image stabilization will not remain the preserve
of premium flagship phones anymore. (see the Rs 20,000 HTC Desire 828, which
already has OIS). Along the same lines, Laser autofocus is also expected to
become a common feature, just like an LED flash is now. Camera megapixel count
will continue to increase and we are expecting dual-lens adoption to rise in
2016 because its an easy way out to better quality and effects.
Universal
fast-charging solutions:
When it
comes to charging, you need to understand that the charging speed depends on
how many amperes your charger can output. A 2Amp charger is capable of charging
your phone almost twice as fast than a 1Amp charger. However, most chargers
that come with smartphones today are rated at 1Amp output.
Considering
that many of us end up doing a partial charge twice in a day, we expect that in
2016, manufacturers will start bundling 2Amp chargers and other fast chargers
by default for fast-charging. USB Type-C adoption also plays an important part
here as fast charging is one of its default features.
Source : Times Of India (TOI)
