This year has seen quite a few exciting and desirable handsets to hit the market – but there’s more of the same to come. There are manufacturers that like to time their releases later in the year, expecting to ride the holiday shopping craze to grab as big a market share as possible. There are quite a few amazing devices that have already been revealed – accidentally on purpose, as some might say – like Samsung’s Galaxy Note 9, Apple’s upcoming iPhones, and such. Today, in turn, let’s take a look at phone models from manufacturers with smaller market shares that are still exciting to look forward to this year.
Razer Phone 2
Despite the African digital revolution, gaming smartphones have not become very widespread over here. But in the rest of the world, there are quite a few already – and this year will see one of the most exciting ones released- the second generation of the Razer Phone.
There is nothing specific to be known about the Razer Phone 2 – most of the information available about it comes from rumors. It will most likely have a Snapdragon 845 SoC under its hood, 8GB of RAM, and will likely have thinner bezels than its predecessor, giving it a better screen to body ratio. Besides, rumors also speak of it being launched together with Linda, Razer’s ultraportable laptop shell built to turn the Razer Phone into a smartphone-powered laptop.
LG V40 ThinQ
One of the most exciting things about LG’s upcoming V40 ThinQ smartphone is its camera – all five of them. Yes, five. On its back, the handset will have a triple camera, while on its front, it will have further two. Otherwise, it’s expected to be launched with the standard flagship features for 2018 – Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 SoC, a POLED display with a notch on its top, up to 90% screen-to-body ratio, and a dedicated Google Assistant button.
Honor Magic 2
Huawei’s Honor sub-brand has seen an amazing growth in the last couple of years but the Chinese smartphone maker seems to want more of the same, presenting some innovative features that have been up its sleeve. The upcoming Honor Magic 2 is expected to have a bezel-less 2K display, a popup selfie camera, three cameras on its back, and a graphene battery supporting fast charging.
Xiaomi Mi Mix 3
There are two exciting features set to be included in Xiaomi’s upcoming Mi Mix 3, expected to be launched this September. One of them is a fingerprint reader embedded in its screen, something many major smartphone makers have been rumored to launch in the last couple of years. The other is a selfie camera that pops out of the top of the smartphone, making the notch suddenly obsolete. The phone could launch mid-September.
Microsoft Andromeda
Last but not least, let us mention a handset – if we can even call it that – that might mean Microsoft’s re-entry into the handheld market- Andromeda. Andromeda is expected to be a foldable phone or tablet, with two displays joined by a hinge mechanism. It will not be a smartphone per se but it will be capable of functioning as one – its primary input method will be touch but it will support a stylus, too. Basically, it will be a lot like a pocket notebook or mini laptop.
The Andromeda is expected to be built on an ARM architecture and run a special version of Microsoft’s Windows 10 called Andromeda OS.