As 2022 draws to a close, we look at the high points of the smartphone industry this year. Some manufactures pushed the envelop, others rode the 5G wave, and few others took the tried and tested route. Some technical changes may not be evident now, but could become mainstream in the next 12 or more months. Here’s our brand-wise highlight of the new technologies and developments in the smartphone business in 2022.
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Apple
Apple ditched notch display and ‘mini’ phone series, and launched ‘dynamic island’ with its iPhone 14 Pro series. The move seems half hearted as basic models of iPhone 14 continue to use notch display and A15 processor. But the phone’s transformation was visible in its Pro version’s lens set up. For the first time ever, Apple used a 48MP main lens, replacing the 12MP sensor. While Apple introduced crash detection and satellite navigation in iPhone series 14, the features are not available in all markets.
Asus
The laptop maker introduced its 6th gen Asus ROG phones in June. It was commercial launched much later. No doubt, the Taiwanese brand makes hardcore gaming phones and ROG Phone 6 series is no less. The ROG Phone 6 has got tremendous haptics, 165Hz panel, mammoth battery life to suffice the gaming needs you might have. Despite these brilliant features, Asus ROG Phone 6 came late to the party this year.
The search giant was quite pleased with India and launched three smartphones in 2022: Pixel 6a, Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro, after a gap of 2 years. With its expanding Pixel ecosystem, Google wants to make its presence felt in the premium segment, yet it shied away from launching the Pixel Watch and Tablet in India. The search giant’s TWS is yet another emerging segment that Google is targeting with its Pixel earbuds.
Lava
Probably, the only surviving Indian smartphone brand, made efforts to stay alive in the Chinese dominated market by launching Blaze in different formats. There’s Blaze 5G which is said to the cheapest 5G smartphone available in the market today and the Blaze Pro that has 50MP main lens.
Lava also focused on customisation of the phones and easy availability of post-purchase services by bringing Lava Agni phone and along with the Agni Mitra or the help executive.
Samsung
The flag-bearer of the foldable phones launched the 4th gen flexible phones in two form factors. Before that, the South Korean electronics giant came with Galaxy S22 series flagship smartphones with Ultra being the leader of the tribe.
Samsung will look to further stretch its foldable dominance in 2023 by bringing new form factors while the upcoming Galaxy S23 series promises to bring new tech. We also hope that mass production of the foldable phones could bring down the prices and encourage adoption.
Oppo
Oppo was the only smartphone brand who registered positive shipments in Q3, 2022 while the rest of the players bitten the dust. The Chinese smartphone brand remained focused towards the Reno series while experimenting with its first foldable phone.
Chances are bright that Oppo might bring its foldable smartphone to India in 2023 and thus giving a competition to Samsung’s foldables. The brand is also aggressive on VR glasses and other AIoT devices that are likely to become commercial next year.
Vivo
Betting on Zeiss’s association, Vivo, introduced the X80 series with fanfare in 2022. The BBK-owned smartphone brand will continue to extend this partnership with its upcoming phone X90 series.
With its Greater Noida-based manufacturing facility, Vivo plans to start exporting smartphones out of India in 2023. With pressure from enforcement agencies, the brand maintained a low profile in the country. Once the proud title sponsor of IPL, Vivo might also bring its foldable phone next year as well. Its sub-brand iQOO remained a popular choice in the gaming domain.
OnePlus
OnePlus started the year 2022 with OnePlus 10 Pro, extending its branding with Hasselblad. It majorly relied upon the Nord series and thus launched consecutive phones under this series. Not only phones, Nord smartwatch also made its debut in 2022. The Chinese brand pushed its affordable smart TVs range as well and ended the year by venturing into monitor space.
Realme
Realme kept hanging in the budget and mid-segment, competing with Xiaomi. The brand experimented with new tech, such as 150W fast charger, and focused on design partnership.
Xiaomi
A year that Xiaomi would love to forget. Xiaomi, accused of evading royalty, and financial irregularities, by the agencies kept battling the perception issue. The Chinese smartphone brand that completed eight years, along with other BBK brands, in India, did not get much time to focus on smartphones due to excessive pressure and freezing of the accounts. The silent exit of Manu Kumar Jain from India’s biz raised questions too. Its business head, Raghu Reddy, also quit by the end of 2022.
Despite all this, Xiaomi did bring tablets, phones under Redmi and Poco in 2022, and maintained its online lead in the country. Xiaomi could also splash in the foldable pool in 2023 and bring its own version in the shape of Mix Fold 2.
Nothing
The London-based tech start up launched its first smartphone, Nothing Phone 1, in the summers of 2022, and concluded the year by launching a design-heavy TWS, Ear Stick. The Phone 1 was one of the flashiest phones launch till date with Glyph interface and transparent design. With three products till date, Nothing is going to expand portfolio in 2023 and might venture into new segments with its ‘transparent’ theme.
(Story updated by adding para 17 that talks about Nothing phone)
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