5 reasons why you should not buy a premium phone right now

Planning to buy a new premium phone? Here’s why you should reconsider.

5G to foldable design, here’s what to expect from 2019 premium phones (AP)

If you're planning to buy a new premium phone, hold on, at least for a month.

At the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2019, which is just a couple of weeks away, most of the top smartphone companies are expected to introduce their latest flagship phones with advanced features and upgraded specifications.

Samsung will launch Galaxy S10 whereas HMD Global will introduce penta-camera phone, Nokia 9 PureView. Huawei, LG and Oppo will also introduce their latest devices at the upcoming mobile show.

But it's not just the regular product upgrade cycle consumers should care about when buying a new premium phone in 2019.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor

Qualcomm's top-end processor powers most of the premium phones, ranging from Samsung Galaxy S9 to OnePlus 6T. Snapdragon 845 processor is now history. The latest Qualocmm Snapdragon 855 chipset, based on 7nm process, brings better performance, higher battery efficiency and on-board artificial intelligence (AI) processing.

Coupled with Snapdragon X50 modem, Snapdraon 855 processor also brings 5G mobile connectivity to 2019 premium smartphones. Other top features of the chipset include improved gaming performance (Adreno 640 GPU), AI and higher resolution camera, and in-screen fingerprint sensor among others.

48-megapixel camera/Camera

Expect the latest premium smartphones to come with higher resolution camera. The 48-megapixel camera is the new rage and already a few phones like Honor View20 and Redmi Note 7 feature this.

While the resolution is certainly not the best measurement to rate a camera, sensors under-the-hood are also getting a big upgrade. Most of these 48-megapixel camera phones are likely to use Sony's IMX586 sensor, dubbed as the highest resolution camera sensor for phones.

Apart from better camera resolution and sensors, 2019 premium phones may also come with Samsung-like quad and penta camera setups. In case of most 2018 phones, dual cameras featured a main camera while the secondary camera varied from ultra-wide, depth sensing to monochrome.

Expect newer phones to feature most of these sensors with triple, quad or penta cameras.

A Royole Corp. Flexpai smartphone sits on display during the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada (Bloomberg)

A Royole Corp. Flexpai smartphone sits on display during the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada (Bloomberg)

5G

The upcoming MWC 2019 show is also going to be the launchpad for 5G for smartphones. From Samsung, OnePlus to Xiaomi, nearly all top players are expected to unveil their new phones with 5G support. Most of these phones will also launch in the European and US markets later this year. For Indians, 5G is at least one year away. But, investing in a 5G-ready phone right now will certainly not be a bad idea.

Foldable phones

Foldable phones are no longer a concept. Samsung unveiled its first foldable phone late last year. The company is widely expected to unveil the commercial version of the phone at its February 20 event ahead of the MWC 2019.

Samsung is also betting big on the new form factor as it plans to make at least 1 million foldable phones this year. With India being one of its top priority markets, expect the foldable devices to launch here as well. Apart from Samsung, Huawei, Oppo and Xiaomi have confirmed plans to launch foldable phones this year.

Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning

Google last year rolled out Android 9 Pie operating system. With Machine Learning at its core, Android Pie brought in features such as adaptive display and adaptive brightness, helping increase the efficiency of the Android phones. Going forward, AI and ML are going to be a big part of Google's Android updates. Ensure you're new phone is compatible with Android Q.

Apart from Google, smartphone companies like Xiaomi and Asus are baking AI and ML right into system applications. Camera, for example, on premium phones uses AI and ML to automatically recognise the scenes and auto-optimise the settings. Most of the 2019 phones are going to come with AI cameras with upgraded features.