In the meanwhile, we run into one situation repeatedly when writing about telephone design from the large manufacturers – for the sake of argument, let’s level a finger on the iPhone, Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy handsets.
That situation is attempting to say one thing attention-grabbing concerning the tiny, iterative year-on-year adjustments, which imply that this 12 months’s flagship telephone mannequin is simply marginally completely different from the one earlier than.
It feels as if the large manufacturers are all too conscious of market share and their solely aim – and it’s a really shareholder-focused, top-down one – is to encroach just a little additional on one another’s turf. Within the US proper now, Apple has claimed nearly 58% of the smartphone market, Samsung 23% and Google 4.5%. It’s just a little extra even within the UK, with 48%, 33% and 5.5% respectively (in line with figures from Statcounter).
Hiya, amorphous telephone design soup
And it feels as if they’re shoring up their positions by making very conservative selections in favour of tried-and-tested designs – whether or not their very own or a competitor’s.
What this implies for us, the telephone consumers and customers, is much less selection. Not solely are manufacturers making fewer adjustments every year to the latest variations of the efficiently bland fashions they’ve already marketed and offered, however more and more, there’s much less distinctiveness between manufacturers.
Our Cell Editor Anyron has already famous that the Google Pixel 9a is essentially the most iPhone-like Android telephone ever.
He factors out that now it’s nixed the 8a’s distinctive visor-style digital camera module, and opted for rounded corners and dual-rear digital camera design, the 9a actually does appear to be attempting to talk in Apple’s design language – maybe to tempt iPhone customers who’re sick of Siri and an incomplete AI expertise over to the superior Gemini.
Foundry
In the meantime, in line with dummy fashions proven by trusted leaker Sonny Dickson (by way of X), this 12 months’s iPhone 17 Air could have a digital camera bar that doesn’t look one million miles away from that of the Google Pixel 8a – though the iPhone’s bar seems to be glass, not aluminium.
Foundry
Hiya, amorphous telephone design soup.
Is anybody stealing Samsung’s design? I’d argue that it’d be nearly not possible to take action, and nearly not possible to inform if somebody did. Foldable fashions apart, Samsung’s handsets are maybe essentially the most featureless available on the market, with 2023’s Galaxy S23, 2024’s Galaxy S24 and this 12 months’s Galaxy S25 not solely bereft of any design aptitude however nearly indistinguishable at a look.
Foundry
That doesn’t imply we don’t just like the Pixel 9a and the Samsung Galaxy S25. They’re good telephones – however man, do they appear bland.
The place manufacturers are flexing a inventive muscle appears to be within the design of ultra-thin telephones, an space through which Apple and Samsung will go head-to-head. The iPhone 17 Air, rumoured to launch in September, has a reported thickness of round 5.5mm, whereas the brand new Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge is simply barely thicker at 5.8mm.
There’s an enormous quantity of engineering experience that goes right into a telephone that skinny – and loads of performance that must be omitted. Within the case of the S25 Edge, that’s the lacking telephoto lens and comparatively small 3900mAh battery, regardless of its £1,099/$1,099 beginning worth.
Simply because the large manufacturers aren’t innovating the place telephone design is worried, it doesn’t imply that nobody is
And all that effort, despite the actual fact I’ve but to listen to a single individual say: If solely my telephone had been 2mm thinner. (A much bigger battery, nonetheless, is on loads of want lists.)
However simply because the large manufacturers aren’t innovating the place telephone design is worried, it doesn’t imply that nobody is.
You solely have to have a look at the finances and mid-range markets, the place Nothing and its sub-brand CMF have introduced out telephones that feel and appear completely different from the norm.
Take the Nothing Telephone’s signature light-up glyphs, that are extra refined on the newest Telephone (3a), or the finances CMF Telephone 2 Professional, which you’ll be able to match with a bunch of equipment, together with a fisheye and macro lens adapter, lanyard and pockets/kickstand.
Luke Baker
For most individuals, a smartphone is a necessity. Nevertheless it’s additionally a big-ticket buy that almost all of us wish to get enthusiastic about. I want the large manufacturers would assist us out with a little bit of design aptitude – they will actually afford to.