Top 5 Flagship Smartphones of 2019!
Staff Writer / 10-01-2020 / News
Every year, smartphone manufacturers scramble to outdo each other when it comes to their flagship smartphones, packing in as many hardware upgrades and features as possible. Leading this pack for the last several years is Samsung and Apple, with Chinese manufacturers Huawei and Xiaomi closing the gap quickly thanks to their ranges of high-quality, feature-packed smartphones that are much more affordable. As a result, smartphones are evolving faster than we can keep up, and 2019 definitely had its share of incredible devices.
Here is our list of the top 5 flagship smartphones to have graced us this year:
Apple sprung their brand-new smartphone offering on us in September this year, loaded with the latest iOS 13 software which has been well received by users. In terms of looks, it’s available in 6 new colours (White, Black, Red, Lavender, Yellow and Green) with an aluminium and glass design and 6.1-inch Liquid Retina Screen.
The iPhone 11 supports faster charging and the battery will last longer (approx. 1 hour) than in the previous iPhone XR. The 2 rear camera lenses, one of which is a 12-megapixel wide-angle lens, and the other, a new 12-megapixel ultra wide camera with a 120-degree field of view, will no doubt be irresistible to those who want to take their mobile photography to the next level. For selfie fans, Apple has introduced a feature called ‘slowfies’ into the front facing camera, adding a whole new dimension to your selfies.
Apple iPhone 11 Pro & Pro Max
These smartphones are being touted as the most powerful iPhones ever made. Both sport the all new surgical-grade stainless steel exterior with a matte finish available in gold or even midnight green, among other new colours. The iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max both house triple cameras at the rear, including an awesome 12MP wide angle camera which will allow you to cram more into a single photo. On the downside, you will have to deal with a slightly bulgier iPhone because of the extra camera. Apple is promising loads of power with this range, but they’re also offering four more hours of battery life than its predecessor, the iPhone XS).
Samsung Galaxy Note 10
Samsung’s flagship smartphone is undoubtedly the Note range and this year it provided us with the Note 10. In terms of screen size, the Note 10 has a 6.3-inch screen which is actually smaller than its predecessor, but it has a dynamic AMOLED+, HDR10+-certified screen made of Corning's latest Gorilla Glass 6. At only 168 grams, it’s really nifty and compact which makes the phone easy to handle. The Note 10 features three rear cameras - a 16-megapixel ultra-wide lens, a 12-megapixel wide angle lens and a 12-megapixel telephoto lens with 2x optical zoom. There's a 10-megapixel selfie camera at the front. Added to that, it has Live Focus Mode which auto focuses on subjects while shooting video. It also has a Zoom-In Mic feature which cuts out all background noise when recording audio.
The Note 10 is an upgrade to the Note 9 in that it has 256GB of onboard memory but doesn’t have a slot for an SD Card. The 8GB of RAM is decent enough to run applications on the device without any delay or lag. On the battery front, it is smaller than the Note 9 at just 3500mAh.
The P30 Pro helped the Chinese company raise the bar this year. The first feature that stands out is the quad camera setup. The Leica quad-camera setup consists of a 40-megapixel main sensor, a 20MP ultra-wide camera, an 8MP telephoto lens with 5x optical zoom and a “time of flight” camera. It has a larger screen at 6.47 inches with OLED display. The P30 Pro is available in a variety of colours and also is a dual-SIM smartphone. The slot also doubles up as Huawei’s nano memory (NM) card slot. It is powered by Huawei’s next-generation Kirin 980 chipset, comes with 8GB of RAM and a bumped-up 256GB of storage that is expandable using an NM card.
Samsung Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus
Regarded as a more affordable, compact version of the Note 10, the Galaxy S10 range was one of the most talked about smartphones of 2019. Both the S10 and S10 Plus have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor, Super AMOLED Infinity-O display, 8GB RAM (with 12GB option), 128GB to 1TB storage options with a microSD slot for even more capacity, five cameras, IP68 rating, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5, and a stunning design with Prism colour options. The S10 plus come with high level water resistance and also the popular fast wireless charging. The additional capabilities to charge up other devices and gear via wireless technology on the back of the S10 Plus is ideal for people on the go.
There’s no doubt that 2019 has served up some really awesome smartphones that promise to get even better when 2020 rolls around. For now, though, it all comes down to the features you’re looking for, your brand preference and, of course, the price you’re willing to pay.
