As 2021 begins, it’s time for my traditional look back at the past twelve months to decide on my personal pick of ‘Smartphone of the Year’ here on Forbes. It’s fair to say that 2020 hasn’t gone according to plan for everyone. How the market adapted to COVID-19 has changed what many were looking for in their phone.
My choice of smartphone is rarely about the largest screen, the greatest numbers or overwhelming specs – although some choices do come close. It’s about the handset that reflects the world of 2020, that looks at the wider smartphone ecosystem and stands out uniquely for what it is and represents.
With that, let’s take a look at some of the phones I’ve considered before revealing who I’m assigning my rosette to.
No spoilers for the winner, so here’s a photo of Edinburgh Castle.
PA Images via Getty Images
iPhone 12 Pro Max
The iPhone 12 Pro Max arrived in late 2020 and Apple’s offering comes with a good dose of specs and capabilities.
On the one hand, this is everything you could wish for in a modern iPhone; two days of battery life, an improved camera for photos and video, a big screen paired (finally) with support for widgets on your home screen, several years of OS support and Apple’s tightly integrated ecosystem (although as always this is a very velvet-lined gated community).
On the other hand, since the iPhone 12 Pro Max has everything you could possibly want in a modern iPhone, you are dealing with two major problems. The first is the measure; this is a large handset that is almost impossible to use with one hand, and for some reviewers it is simply too big to be ‘a phone’, although in terms of comfort it is an improvement over the iPhone 11 Pro Max.
The second problem is the price. While there are more expensive handsets – usually the ones that push the envelope with foldable displays – the Pro Max is a big investment. You’re looking at $ 1400 for the 512GB model, storage that you really need given the camera’s capabilities and video features on offer.
There is no doubt that the iPhone 12 Pro Max is a technological marvel. But the price, especially in an economy severely weakened by the coronavirus pandemic, makes it unattainable for many. This is not an annual game with Specs Top Trumps, my phone of the year must have a bigger appeal than the top geekerati.
Google Pixel 4a
Google has essentially bypassed the premium handsets market this year, bringing the Pixel 5, Pixel 4a 5G and Pixel 4 to the mid-range market. Of the three, I think the Pixel 4a offers the best value for money in this space.
There is almost nothing that stands out about this handset. The battery will get you through the day, but must be charged at night; compared to other Android devices in 2020, the 5.8-inch screen is relatively small; and the design is unassuming with a screen on the front and a polycarbonate back.
Still, Google has increased the RAM and storage of the Pixel 3a. The single camera lens may not win top trumps of specs, but it takes advantage of Google’s image processing to take great photos. And because it’s a Google phone, it’s one of the few handsets that can give you reasonable assurance that your Android upgrades and security updates will arrive in a timely manner.
When you need an Android handset that delivers a ‘this is good enough’ experience, it’s hard to look beyond the Pixel 4a’s price, value and capabilities.
OnePlus North
The release of the OnePlus Nord, following the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro last month, was a crucial handset for OnePlus. The pace of a single model that is updated every six months to stay on top of specifications and offer an excellent value for money handset with flagship specs had turned into a smartphone with specs and prices on par with those of other flagships.
The OnePlus Nord had the value for money paired with a feature set close enough to the flagship specs. This was a turning point for OnePlus. Although the company had branched out into providing Pro branded handsets, there was always a sense that they came from the same production stock and were essentially two renderings of the same handset.
That was not the case with the OnePlus Nord. Here was a new handset launched separately from major summer releases that took a different take on what it meant to be a OnePlus handset, and managed to upset the fanbase to the point that it literally redefined OnePlus.
Whether this redefinition of what OnePlus offers will allow the company to achieve further success in 2021, or whether the bridges to the community have burned down will be one of the stories of the next twelve months. The Nord is an important handset for OnePlus, but the impact on the entire smartphone ecosystem may be less.
Samsung Galaxy S20 Fan Edition
Although the Galaxy S20 family launched in February, it took about six months for the favorite sibling to arrive. Aside from the unwieldy nature of the name, Samsung managed to strike a good balance between price and functionality in the Fan edition of the flagship, and much of that feels like a response to COVID-19.
The three Galaxy S20 models that were the captain arrived ‘earlier’. The Galaxy S20, S20 Plus and S20 Ultra, packs of features that were of great use to the road warriors who were constantly on the move around the world, who needed the power and were happy to pay a premium. 2020 spent on that approach, and like many other manufacturers, Samsung had to look at its portfolio under a new set of circumstances.
The result is the Galaxy S20 Fan Edition, a handset that cuts the fat from the S20 formula. The wide lines are the same, but a keen eye will notice that the glass back has been replaced with plastic, a squarer design around the flat screen and a 3-lens 12-megapixel camera (telephoto, wide-angle and ultra-wide) that drops just a bit bit behind the more expensive flagships.
Still, this is a package that works. It delivers Samsung’s software experience, the Qualcomm 865 Snapdragon has the performance and doesn’t feel particularly compromised. Whether you think of $ 700 as the very best in the mid-range segment or at the very bottom of the flagship markets, the Fan Edition feels like the flagship to the people. I wonder what the reaction would have been if this version had been launched alongside the other three models? I suspect Samsung would have seen a lot more unit sales, but with the corresponding lower sales
Apple iPhone SE (2020)
2020 changed the dynamics of the smartphone market. The coronavirus pandemic impacted the entire ecosystem, from delivery and manufacturing, through launch and marketing, to the needs and demands of consumers. The priorities in 2019 have not remained constant.
Each phone was viewed through a slightly different prism than expected. For me, one handset was in sharp focus. 2020 update for the iPhone SE. With almost the same specs as the then iPhone 11, but at a much lower price point, the SE felt like an iPhone curated not for Cupertino’s geekerati, but everyone else.
Why not the iPhone 12 Mini? For me there are two reasons. The first is that it simply did not capture the public’s imagination; a look at the number of activations on Christmas Day shows that the iPhone SE is in the top ten and does not even place the 12 Mini.
The iPhone SE captures the mood much better than any other smartphone in 2020. Designed before the pandemic started, its release and subsequent marketing changed to best reflect the mood of the world. The launch was one of the first notable virtual technology launches; it was one of the first smartphones to be sold to consumers who understood the impact of a lockdown and home working would mean. It found success in a world that wanted power in a smartphone as well as affordability and usability.
That’s why the iPhone SE is my smartphone of 2020.