The smartphone market has already reached a certain level of saturation and has revealed consumer preferences, so it is quite difficult for manufacturers to stand out against the general background. Some of them continue the “arms race”, some companies have focused on design and ergonomics, and there are those who are trying to expand the range through niche solutions. To make the review as unbiased as possible, manufacturers are ranked in order of decreasing sales volumes in Russia in quantitative terms.
SAMSUNG
The most popular smartphone maker
The market leader also ranks first in the number of families, lines and model series.
Samsung promised flexible displays, which we still have not seen.
And recently, the company decided to call their smartphones in strict accordance with the principle of "Occam's razor", i.e. without multiplying the number of marks beyond what is needed. And that is very convenient - once I figured out their positioning, and then you just navigate through the years. Clearly, this joke does not apply to the flagships, so the numerical index is one there (at the time of updating the article - 9).
Premium segment honestly divide the model series S and Note. Both families are equipped with effective Super AMOLED displays, the shortcomings of which can only be attributed to a Pentile matrix with a characteristic ladder, and a powerful “iron”, whose performance is even excessive today. If the differences between these models are characterized by a couple of words - Note is “sharpened” under the stylus and has a larger display.
Behind average price category now the Galaxy A lineup is solely responsible, the main talent of which is the ability to shoot well. And to emphasize this fact, the flagship model of the family was immediately equipped with four rear-facing cameras. So to speak, for all occasions.
Well "budget", in the understanding of SAMSUNG. Here the letter J rules the ball, and more than one manufacturer can envy the variety of options for its “writing”. The emphasis in this line is on practicality.
In the photo: model Samsung Galaxy A9 2018
Review of the best Samsung smartphones
APPLE
The trendsetter in the field of high technology
The trendsetter in the field of high technologies and prices for relevant products does not need any special presentation.
Apple Legend - Steve Jobs.
A stylish design, a convenient operating system of its own design, the highest quality of devices and, of course, the vast app store makes apple phones a kind of benchmark for mobile devices - an object to follow, fanatical devotion or the same radical aversion.
We will not once again inflate holivar - which iPhone is the best and most successful, we just note that the life time of most Apple gadgets is really impressive and, at the time of updating the article, the sixth, seventh and eighth model lines are selling quite well.
Concerning new products. The budget niche is now occupied by the iPhone Xr. And the fact that the money requested for this model is more than enough to buy the flagship of any B-brand - fans of the apple brand will always find something to justify. In fact, we are faced with the very middle class that the company did not formally have before. In this case, the replacement of the truly affordable iPhone SE, we did not wait.
Among the most significant changes in the Apple 2018 model lineup is undoubtedly the appearance of dual-purpose iPhones. Unfortunately, domestic telecom operators do not support the version of eSIM used in them, and all interested parties need to look for an iPhone Xr or iPhone Xs Max for the Chinese market. Regarding the possibility of expanding the memory, Apple’s principal (negative) position has not gone away, but the severity of this problem is gradually disappearing due to the increasing availability of cloud services and increasing the limits for content storage.In other aspects, the changes are mainly quantitative: faster, stronger, etc.
Pictured model is Apple iPhone Xs
Review of the best smartphones APPLE
HUAWEI
The Chinese company HUAWEI recently ranked third among manufacturers in terms of sales of smartphones on a global scale, while its share continues to grow actively. Moreover, according to the results of the 2nd quarter of 2018, it even overtook Apple and climbed to the second step of the pedestal. And in the summer, one of the company's top managers bluntly stated that they would undoubtedly become “number two” next year, or maybe Samsung would be pressed.
Production hull Huawei.
Anyway, no other manufacturer has such a wide range of smartphones. On a shelf with a sign "Main flagship" settled line of smartphones Mate - the embodiment of all the best and advanced that only Huawei found at the time of the development of the next generation. Below are consistently placed the flagships "simpler" - the older models of the P family and Honor sub-brand. The first is taken not by the number of representatives, but by the ability to photographic business. The strengths of the second are considered a spectacular design and an attractive quality / price ratio. However, the "Onory" is also removed very worthily. It is noteworthy that the company has already used all the resources to name the inexpensive models of this line.
As middle class Huawei stands family Nova. Moreover, within the framework of its third generation, in the same price boundaries, models on a variety of hardware platforms peacefully coexist.
In the photo model Huawei Mate 20 Pro
Budget Huawei Y's lineup is nothing outstanding - ordinary workhorses with their pros and cons.
Overview of the best smartphones Huawei
LENOVO & MOTOROLA
The smartphones of this company systematically won the sympathies of customers and are no longer associated in our minds with “frank China. All the more annoying the strange “crisis of the genre” that gripped the manufacturer, and the almost complete absence of new models. They, as it were, are announced, but do not reach the windows of our stores. The closest thing to them was an interesting device on a “pure” Android, equipped with a particularly capacious battery - Motorola One Power.
In the photo model Motorola One Power
The fate of the former Moto Z flagship is incomprehensible. Formerly, there are rumors that from the whole Moto family it is planned to leave only the G series on a budget (G6) or mid-level platform (supposed to be for the G7), and the leader will be moved "under the shadow" of the Lenovo brand. Again, with a decrease in class. For the segment of low-cost devices, Lenovo will now meet the K and S line.
As for the high place in our ranking of the best manufacturers of smartphones, the current position of the tandem of Lenovo & Motorola allowed to take the results of the analytical agency StatCounter, according to which smartphones of these brands generate more than 5% of mobile web traffic. And what is especially interesting, with each year the corresponding figure only increases.
In the photo: Lenovo Vibe Fest.
Overview of the best smartphones Lenovo
Xiaomi
Quite a "popular" brand, popular in Russia, pleasing its fans not only with democratic price tags for smartphones produced, but also with excellent technical characteristics of the devices themselves.
In the photo: the presentation of models of 2017 in Moscow
And, as a rule, they are based on a modern component basis, and not morally outdated solutions. Research results from such reputable think tanks as IDC, Gartner and Counterpoint Research indicate that Xiaomi is now the fastest growing global brand. As for smartphones, last year the company almost doubled the volume of their supplies, and at the same time its market share.
Pictured: new factory Xiaomi in India
It should also be noted, and a steady increase in the overall quality of the products of this brand, although this statement is not yet related to the accompanying software. Including at the level flagships the company. But in terms of innovation, the latter can even serve as an example to follow.In particular, Mi8 with its dual-frequency GPS system, Mi Mix 3 with a practical slider design, and Black Shark a convenient wireless gamepad. If you arrange the model series of the brand in descending order of "steepness", you get the following chain: Mi MIX - Mi - Mi Note - Mi A - Redmi Note - Redmi S - Redmi. Formally to middle class Only the devices from the Mi Note line are relevant, but here it must be borne in mind that more than pleasant price tags significantly hinder the correct positioning of Xiaomi products. For example, the Pocophone F1 model with its flagship filling falls into this cost category.
At the moment, the most significant claim to the Chinese company's smartphones is the stubborn reluctance of developers to equip their low-cost devices with NFC modules.
In the photo: model Xiaomi Mi Mix 3
Review of the best Xiaomi smartphones
BBK Electronics
Perhaps this is the most difficult case in our review of the best manufacturers of smartphones. Few people associate the brands OnePlus, OPPO or VIVO with the manufacturer of the most popular DVD players in the former USSR (in the recent past), although the reality is exactly that. Of course, brand fans can have their own opinion, but OPPO is a “daughter” of BBK and, at the same time, an unofficial parent company for OnePlus - so from a formal point of view, everything is correct.
If those players were focused mainly on our market, then the brand OPPO created specifically for the American. Smartphones of this brand are successful (in general, they occupy the 4th place in the world in terms of sales), but in our stores they are represented extremely poorly. The brand's products are of high quality performance, the presence of unique "chips" and a fairly high cost. Actual models are not very much.
Pictured: OPPO A5 smartphone
In principle, until recently, similar phrases were able to describe smartphones Vivo, with the only difference that initially they were focused on the Asian market. Now, appetites have grown (even the fifth place in sales) and the company is already well represented in our retail. It is probably worth noting that it was this brand that was the first to implement the idea with a fingerprint scanner built right into the display of a smartphone. The positioning on the rulers of the VIVO is simple: the Y series is responsible for conditionally low-end models, X for particularly thin, Xplay for productive, Xshot for camera phones and V for the middle class. Not without variations, but somewhere like that.
In the photo: the VIVO Nex model with a sliding camera and a fingerprint scanner built into the display.
Oneplus in general, it can be considered a brand of a single model represented by several generations. These smartphones are more often called flagship killers, bearing in mind the excellent technical characteristics, stylish design and more modest price tags. True, the latest version of the OnePlus is no longer inexpensive, for good reason.
In the photo: OnePlus 6 smartphone
LG
In the already distant 2014, the South Korean company developed and released 41 models of smartphones. In 2018, the fingers of two hands are enough for counting its novelties. And if you believe the words of the vice-chairman of LG, said at the last CES, they now plan to update their range only as needed.
In the photo: the presentation of the updated model LG K8 at CES 2018
First of all it concerns flagship lines V and G. It is noteworthy that the company stopped searching for its own path in terms of design and design and joined in replicating other people's ideas, including the notorious screen cut and increasing the number of cameras. Of their workings, the audiophile sound path and the high level of security of smartphones remained intact. Behind middle class for LG, the models of the Q series correspond; only the oldest one, the “eighth”, fully corresponds to this positioning. Of budget Smartphones of greatest interest are devices with capacious X Power family batteries.
In the photo: model LG V40 ThinQ
NOKIA
Former merits and aggressive marketing policy of the new owner still attract much attention to this brand.A place in our review of the best manufacturers of smartphones was provided by 2% of the global web traffic, as well as almost four and a half million smartphones sold in 2017. According to the latest indicator, the Nokia brand overtook the achievements of Sony and Asus. In addition, the brand became the leader in the number of nominations received at the MWC 2018 exhibition.
Pictured: Nokia presentation at MWC 2018
At the same time, it must be admitted that the current Nokia is not particularly attractive. Perhaps the whole thing is that we haven’t seen the super flagship promised a year ago. In the meantime, this role has to be performed by the far from flawless Nokia 8 Sirocco model. Understanding the positioning of well-known brand devices is easier than ever - the older the digit after the name, the steeper the smartphone. And in order not to produce those redundant entities, the manufacturer made an elegant decision - to designate the next generation of the model with a decimal index.
This is the camera part of the Nokia 9 prototype.
Review of the best Nokia smartphones
SONY
Despite the vast range of Xperia, SONY market share is constantly declining. The company is looking for different ways to return its buyer, including due to the fantastic characteristics of new smartphones.
There was a fire and copper pipes.
At least her last budget line L1 is not particularly popular among users, as well as middle classrepresented by the XA family. We venture to assume that SONY will follow the example of some other brands and focus exclusively on solutions. top tier and the production of components. Whatever you may say, the SONY optical image sensors are a kind of quality standard.
It is strange only that the "Japanese" themselves still have not been able to realize their own potential advantages. The continuity of tradition is wonderful. A peculiar angular design - well, let it be a "trick" of the brand. What is the reason for preventing high-capacity rechargeable batteries in SONY smartphones? This is practically half of the “negative”, and it was voiced a long time ago.
In the photo model SONY Xperia XZ3
Overview of the best Sony smartphones
HTC
Another former leader with unclear prospects. HTC has even announced that it plans to focus its main efforts on business-related areas that are not very smart. True, then we started talking about leaving only the entry-level model market, and in early 2018, the manufacturer made an attempt to reanimate its Desire budget line.
Photo: www.laphamsquarterly.org
HTC is collected here.
On the other hand, many analysts reiterated the apparent discrepancy between the manufacturer’s price requests and the actual technical characteristics of these smartphones. The flagships remain, and here everything is not so gloomy. Moreover, if previously HTC was traditionally the weakest point of the camera, now the U12 + model occupies one of the top lines in the ranking of the authoritative resource DxOMark. An additional feature of the flagships of the company is still the technology Edge Sense, updated to the second generation. But the replacement of mechanical side buttons on the touch like not everyone.
In the photo model HTC U12
Review of the best HTC smartphones
ASUS
If, comparatively recently, the company was content with the role of a manufacturer of mostly inexpensive smartphones for undemanding users, its latest offers can also interest quite sophisticated “users”.
In the photo: the presentation of the ZenFone 5 line at CES 2018
Continuing to develop the main line of ZenFone, which received one of the most prestigious design awards in 2014, ASUS decided to expand its Republic Of Gamers brand family to mobile devices. The developers' efforts resulted in a very interesting ROG Phone, running on the overclocked Snapdragon 845, equipped with a cooling system with an evaporation chamber and boasting cool gaming accessories. As for the "normal" models, it is worth noting the relatively successful attempts of ASUS to gain a foothold in all significant segments.Generally speaking, the main claims of the owners of asusfon are caused by the quality of the accompanying software.
In the photo: the model Asus ROG Phone
In fact, the first five "Nexus" were full copies of certain smartphones from different manufacturers, which were simply produced in parallel to the originals, but under the Google brand.
Google Pixel 3 Presentation
Beginning with Nexus 6, there were no more "twins", and the company's products gained their individuality. We must assume that the abandonment of the “old” brand and the launch of the Pixel family were designed to rehabilitate Google as much as possible in every sense, and the recent acquisition of HTC’s research division would give weight as a serious figure in the smartphone market. Actually, this Taiwanese company helped develop the first generation of “pixels”, and also produces them at its own facilities.
It is noteworthy that the Nexus One is also the work of HTC’s hands. The provision requires, therefore, the main ideologue of the most massive mobile operating system to release unusable smartphones, even indecent.
However, the third generation Pixel company unpleasantly surprised everyone. You can even think that Google designers had the task to set a record for the disciplines "the largest single patch" and "the widest framework 2018" (for the XL version and the base model, respectively). But to shoot new smartphones have learned even better and cost with a single sensor.
Pictured is the Google Pixel 3 XL model
MEIZU
The company began as a producer of interesting and quite distinctive music players, but its first smartphone (M8) imitated APPLE products to such an extent that the latter even looked for legitimate ways to completely ban sales of this model. Actually, certain features of iPhones are still skipping, if not in the form of devices of the Chinese brand, so in their Flame shell. However, many other smart phone makers have the same sin.
Opening of the next MEIZU brand store
In the past, MEIZU has released some really cool devices, but recently it has been going through hard times. Her smartphones outperformed most of the competitors in terms of design and convenience, although the possibilities of filling could be noticeably inferior to them. Fortunately fans of the brand, the company was able to get together and release a great model, and in every sense. So far this is only a flagship, but who knows ...
In the photo: model Meizu 16th
Which firm's smartphone is better?
A very difficult time for manufacturers who are forced to look for new ideas in the face of fierce competition and price pressure from numerous little-known companies, turns into an excellent opportunity for users to choose their own, best smartphone option. Each smartphone manufacturer has its strengths and weaknesses. Productive stuffing, the highest image detail, stylish design, convenient software shell - everyone decides for himself what is more important. The most pleasant thing in this situation is that there is such a choice.
