Smartphones are no longer just a part of our lives, they have become a mandatory need. So much so that we can do many tasks through these devices that fit in our pockets, without needing a computer or wallet. But it wasn’t always like this.
The first tangible examples in this field are considered to be the world’s first touch-screen phone, the IBM Simon, which went on sale in 1993, and the Nokia 9000 Communicator, which went on sale in 1996. However, although these devices are ahead of their time, they do not fully meet the concept of a smartphone that comes to mind in our minds.
Because the smartphones we are accustomed to today were born and continue to exist with Android and iOS operating systems. These devices, which once only performed functions such as making calls, sending messages and e-mails, and surfing the internet, have now become complex products with advanced artificial intelligence hardware and software that enable us to manage our home, car, bank accounts and business with a few voice commands.
Of course, as phones develop, we see that their designs change in a very short time. However, for a while now, many technology lovers have agreed that the design issue in smartphones has reached an impasse. So why?
The screen sizes of these devices, which first appeared as 3-4 inches in size and up to 2 centimeters in thickness, increased over time. So much so that we have seen models up to tablet size. Of course, this increase in size also led to the development of thin and long batteries instead of thick and short.
During this period, it became a fashion to both enlarge the screen of the phones and reduce their thickness, and the industry moved in this direction. During the process, we also saw phones with 5 mm thickness. But in the same period, an unintentional problem arose.
Although it was possible to make phones and batteries thinner, the camera sensor and lens took up a lot of space. For this reason, despite the single camera, contrary to the design of the device, there were modules that doubled the thickest point of the phone.
Asian companies, in particular, continued major R&D efforts in this field and began to reduce the camera protrusion a little more with each new model. Of course, another method for those who could not achieve this was to make the battery appear smaller by enlarging it.
However, at the end of the day, the desired success was achieved. As many of our readers may remember, the camera protrusion in the Samsung Galaxy S9-S10 series, Xiaomi Mi 8-9 series and iPhone 7-8 series was quite small, almost non-existent.
Immediately after this, the period of increasing the screen-to-body ratio began. Although we are still talking about the frame thickness of the devices today, they managed to achieve this goal shortly with solutions such as curved screens. But there was another problem, and that was the space occupied by the front camera.
Many brands have adopted the waterdrop notch or punch-hole display design. Apple, on the other hand, adopted the iconic design language known as notch. However, during this period, they were so busy reducing the front camera area and even managing to completely remove the front camera from the screen thanks to the mechanical camera modules coming out of the device, that they forgot about the rear camera design they had strived for years ago.
Design was put on the back burner as technology developed faster than expected and competition suddenly increased with Chinese companies becoming more present in the industry. Camera sensors have gotten bigger and the race has begun to see who can add more cameras.
At the end of the day, design-deprived devices with 4-5 cameras on the back, partly imitating Apple with their notches and partly because they did not want to lose the competition on the Android side, emerged. But those days are also gone. Hole screen technology has now become the standard. On the back, the main camera, wide-angle camera and telephoto camera that can zoom are standard.
But in this process, a new concept known as camera island emerged. Android and iOS devices now feature huge camera islands. Moreover, although smartphones are now 8-9 mm instead of 5 mm, the camera islands double this size.
This design may be pleasing to the eye because it resembles professional cameras when viewed from a distance. However, we must not forget that these devices are still mobile phones that need to fit in our pockets.
So, if you are wondering how long these thick camera islands will last, unfortunately we can say that it will continue like this for a while. Of course, this will not be valid for every phone. We can see simple designs, especially in the entry and mid-segment models, as in the past.
However, in upper segment phones, the fight to see who can zoom further or whose sensor is bigger still continues. When we consider the rapidly developing technology, this competition does not seem to have an end.
With the introduction of foldable phones into our lives a few years ago, it was expected that the industry would move here. Although it has a growing market volume, it does not even account for 10 percent of the market. Therefore, it appears that this is not the expected trend.
On the other hand, major R&D studies are being carried out on placing the front camera module under the screen. In fact, although they did not reach significant sales figures, phone models from several different brands with under-screen camera systems were sold in recent years. Although this technology has not received the expected attention from the consumer side, this will be the biggest design development in the next few years.
However, the development of artificial intelligence has also accelerated considerably. Virtual assistants and chatbots are advancing rapidly and interest is shifting towards this area. Therefore, once again, the design issue fell from the first place and lost its priority to someone else.
Therefore, when we look at the smartphone industry in general, we see that brands are confused about what to do. They set different goals for themselves: those who do whatever they want without caring about design, those who want to stand out on camera, and those who want to integrate artificial intelligence as soon as possible.
So, instead of competing in a single field as before, there are many manufacturers trying to get to the top in different fields. Of course, we cannot say that this is a bad thing. Because consumers also have different tendencies. So much so that some prefer the one with 200x zoom, while others prefer the one with the most powerful processor.
So, which one will we choose when brands produce dozens of devices that differ from each other in terms of design, screen, camera and processor? At this point, you can follow ShiftDelete.Net Smartphone News and our ShiftDelete.Net YouTube channel, where we test and review all smartphones and technology products for you.