Credit: David Imel / Android Authority
Better, stronger, faster. That is the mantra. And let’s not forget – more efficient! We got an idea of the level of performance and efficiency of 2020’s best smartphones back in 2019 when Arm announced the Cortex-A77. At the same time, the company also unveiled the Mali-G77 GPU.
At the end of the same year, Qualcomm launched the Snapdragon 865 based on the Cortex-A77 and its own in-house Adreno GPU. Our initial performance numbers using Speed Test G showed that the Snapdragon 865 had the potential to be up to 20% faster overall than the Snapdragon 855.
And so the stage was set. The new Snapdragon was announced and several companies had committed to using it in their 2020 devices. There was still the question of the latest Exynos processor from Samsung could it beat the Snapdragon? What about Huawei, could it shake things up? And what about the possibility of a boosted Snapdragon 865 Plus?
Android Authority’s best smartphone of the year.
Even without the forced adjustments due to the ongoing global pandemic, 2020 was a year of major change for the mobile industry. We saw fresh form factors emerge with the rebirth of clamshells, spinning phones with two screens, and a tease of what rollables might look like. A handful of foldables that finally felt good enough (and sturdy enough) to genuinely consider buying made an appearance too.
We also saw 5G take center stage with its continued rollout. There were even new price tiers of smartphones with $1,000+ ultra-premium phones, super mid-rangers, and even a truly budget iPhone! Cats and dogs. Mass hysteria.
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on October 30, 2020. It has been updated to include the video embedded at the top of the page.
The Google Pixel 5 is a great buy if you’re after a solid camera phone that won’t break the bank. However, with more hardware side-grades than upgrades this year, it’s not entirely obvious whether a new purchase is worthwhile. Perhaps Google’s legendary camera package is the most compelling reason to buy the latest model.
For today’s camera shootout, we’re looking at three generations of Google flagship smartphones. The Pixel 3, Pixel 4, and the latest Pixel 5. Google hasn’t changed its main camera lens over the past few years but has experimented with additional cameras as well as new software. So, let’s see what’s changed over the generations.
The very best smartphone hardware can be expensive, and increasingly so based on recent yearly trends. It’s been a couple of years since phones broke the $1,000 price barrier, and it feels like prices have continued on their upward trajectory. But was this actually true in 2020?
To investigate prices, we’ve tracked average flagship smartphone prices from Apple, Samsung, Google, OnePlus, Xiaomi, LG, and Sony from over the past year. We’ve also recorded the prices for affordable entry-level models, such as those with smaller memory configurations and lower specs, as well as ultra-premium tier products. The results are interesting.
Credit: David Imel / Android Authority
After over a whopping 77,000 votes cast across our website, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, the worthy winner of our Reader’s Choice 2020 award is the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.
Samsung’s ultra-premium, stylus-toting phablet didn’t just win the overall award it bested the competition in every stage of the voting across every platform. That’s mighty impressive stuff, especially with such tough competition. It also marks the fourth year running where the Galaxy Note series has topped the popular vote.
Let’s dive into the numbers to see how it all went down.
The voting kicked off on Friday, December 19 with a total of 16 candidates. These were then whittled down to four. We received over 12,000 votes at this stage, with the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra emerging on top with a strong 17.7% of the total vote.