My Big Tech Wish for 2026: I Just Want a Phone that Excites Me

As a tech fanatic in my non-public in addition to my skilled life, 2025 was a little bit of a blended bag, to make use of the outdated cliché.

There have been thrilling private purchases, starting from the bracingly easy (I really like my Hario espresso decanter) to the ridiculously costly (I lastly dipped my toe into the audiophile stereo world). However by way of the sort of tech I really write about more often than not? Not a lot.

The Nintendo Swap 2’s blandly refined {hardware} turned out to be a little bit of a disappointment, if I’m being brutally sincere. The OLED show on the iPad Professional M4 I purchased in March was good, I suppose, however didn’t precisely reinvent the wheel.

I purchased an iPhone 17 Professional as my day-to-day telephone, in addition to to function a useful benchmark for any flagship telephone opinions. Love the orange. Sensible selfie digital camera. Nonetheless very a lot an iPhone.

Inevitably, this normal sense of tech ennui crept into my skilled life. I’m simply going to return out and say it: 2025 was a boring 12 months for telephones.

Samsung and Google are treading water

Right here’s my essential downside: too many smartphone makers have been resting on their laurels – or worse – over the previous 12 months.

Let’s begin with the 2 essential Android style makers in Samsung and Google. Their 2025 line-ups have been nearly indistinguishable from the 2024 rosters.

The Google Pixel 10 sequence not less than added Qi2 help and a devoted telephoto digital camera to the bottom mannequin. However even the latter got here accompanied by a rollback within the high quality of its essential sensor.

Chris Martin / Foundry

Certainly, whereas some producers trotted out the identical outdated {hardware}, others arguably regressed. I’ve learn a number of rave opinions of the OnePlus 15, however each the digital camera and the display {hardware} are arguably inferior to their OnePlus 13 predecessors.

Elsewhere, Nothing ditched its Glyph system for the Nothing Cellphone (3), abandoning one of many final genuinely attention-grabbing smartphone improvements to return forth.

You may argue that smartphone design basically is getting much less attention-grabbing. The entire telephones I’ve talked about thus far have basically adopted the present iPhone design. All have flat rims and surfaces, framed by tightly curved corners.

Whereas the Xiaomi 17 is wanting so as to add one thing attention-grabbing in its secondary show (itself not a brand new idea), it’s basically the identical form because the iPhone 17 Professional.

Maybe our salvation from this smartphone design uniformity lies in Apple’s palms, then? Not so quick. Stories counsel that the following large iPhone design overhaul isn’t coming till 2027, to coincide with the pioneering smartphone’s twentieth anniversary.

Britta O’Boyle

Causes for hope in 2026

It’s all wanting just a little boring and dreary as we head into 2026 – and I can’t even carry myself to debate the tiresome obsession with AI that appears to be afflicting each smartphone producer.

However sufficient with the negativity. There have been some promising glimpses of smartphone progress in 2025, together with indicators that we may get one thing actually attention-grabbing in 2026.

This was a pivotal 12 months for battery life in telephones. Lingering issues over the long-term capability and even security of silicon-carbon battery know-how apart, 2025 was the 12 months through which smartphone stamina took an enormous leap ahead.

I’ve spoken already about my disappointment within the regressive parts of the OnePlus 15, however one large development it made was with its battery life. It’s the primary smartphone that I’ve used for any size of time that might conceivably final into a 3rd day of utilization – and the excellent news is that there are extra on the best way.

This was the one space the place smartphones took a large step again from their characteristic telephone forebears. Battery know-how merely hasn’t saved up with advances in processors and shows, leading to battery life dropping from a number of days and even weeks to the purpose the place making it to bedtime is taken into account an achievement.

Lastly, the steadiness appears to be on its approach to being restored. I’m anticipating a telephone (and even a number of telephones) to be launched in 2026 that I can take away with me for an extended weekend with no need to throw in a charger. That’s an thrilling prospect.

Foundry | Alex Walker-Todd

2026: the 12 months foldables lastly go large

Elsewhere, foldables are positively on the monitor to turning into legitimate propositions, in the event that they’re not there already.

Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 7 was arguably its most attention-grabbing telephone of the 12 months, with a considerably slimmed-down design that I really didn’t thoughts lugging round.

The Google Pixel 10 Professional Fold, in the meantime, confirmed that correct mud resistance was a risk – even when the jury stays out as to the sturdiness of its claims.

Then, on the very finish of the 12 months, one thing genuinely new and thrilling emerged. The Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold popped up with a foldable kind issue that appeared to dwell as much as the unique ‘pill in your pocket’ promise. Technically, the Huawei Mate XT debuted the shape consider China in late 2024, however this was the primary product of its variety with international potential.

With widespread experiences that Apple may launch its personal foldable iPhone late subsequent 12 months, 2026 may lastly see foldables going mainstream. And when a product class goes mainstream, that tends to imply higher {hardware} and decrease costs.

Whereas I preserve that 2025 was one of the boring years in shopper know-how, then, there’s loads of motive for hope that 2026 will provide one thing just a little extra substantial than just a few AI methods.