Unconsciously, it has reached the end of December, and various mobile phone manufacturers have submitted their last answer sheets sooner or later before the curtain falls this year. This year, mobile phone manufacturers still provide us with many surprises, in addition to the latest hardware configuration, the emerging technological innovation and application is worthy of attention. However, while the technology is rapidly improving, there has always been a doubt about the new flagship mobile phone on the market.
I don't know when we started, we don't seem to expect the new phone as much as before, and we won't change the phone as often as before. Why do we feel this way? According to Xiaolei's survey, some consumers believe that in addition to the routine replacement of processors, this year's flagship machine does not seem to have any progress compared with the flagship machine of a few years ago. More consumers said that the smartphone industry has long entered the twilight years, and the development of smart phones has basically come to an end.
Is this really the case? In order to verify this view, we selected several flagship products that have been recognized by consumers in the past five years, such as Xiaomi MIX 2, vivo NEX S, Huawei P30 Pro, Xiaomi 10 Ultra and OPPO Find X3 Pro Photographer Edition, etc., and from the aspects of design, hardware configuration, daily experience, game experience, system functions, image capabilities, etc., we compared the similarities and differences of several mobile phones horizontally, so that we can feel what has changed in mainstream flagship products in the past five years.
Appearance part: the material is similar, the design is different
The first is the appearance design, as the user can perceive the parameters at the first time, the design directly affects the user's first impression of a smart phone, and the weight and feel can become an important consideration criterion that affects the "good use" of a mobile phone. However, since ancient times, it has always been difficult to balance between weight, function, feel, and endurance, so we might as well see what kind of choices these flagship representatives of different eras have made.
It can be found that in these five years, the material of the mobile phone has not changed much. For example, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 in 2013 uses a plain leather material, and the Xiaomi Mix 2 released five years ago uses a metal border + ceramic back cover design. To this day, the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra and the Honor Magic3 Edition still use a ceramic back cover, while the OPPO Find X3 Photographer Edition uses a stitching design of plain leather + glass.
However, not every manufacturer will use these two materials, the vivo NEX S released four years ago adopts the design of metal frame + glass back cover, the same is true for Huawei P30 Pro and Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra. To this day, the material of the flagship machine we are familiar with is still dominated by metal + glass.
However, unlike the previous monotonous configuration, Android manufacturers have made more progress in the color matching and feel of glass, such as the gradient color-changing glass design used by Huawei P30 Pro, the ceramic-like glass design used by Xiaomi 10 Ultra, and the photochromic glass pioneered by vivo and the gradient AG frosted glass pioneered by OPPO, which have brought users better feel and visual unique effects while keeping the material unchanged.
Ceramics and plain leather are still some manufacturers' reserved items, the ceramic enamel layer for the fuselage to bring a smoother feel and transparent color, can highlight the texture of the flagship product very well; plain leather in retaining the appearance of leather texture at the same time the touch is almost leather, so that the appearance of the flagship mobile phone has a touch of temperature, can bring users a new visual effect and holding experience, and even a little "light luxury" taste. This is also the reason why today's flagship mobile phones are more inclined to choose plain skin when designing.
After talking about the material of the fuselage, let's take a look at the changes in the front design of the flagship machine. Due to the limitations of the times, the chin of the Xiaomi MIX 2 does look a little abrupt; as the first true full-screen mobile phone on the market, the front design of the vivo NEX S is still outdated even today; the Huawei P30 Pro adopts a waterdrop curved screen design that seems slightly outdated today, while the recent two flagships have adopted a hollow curved screen design.
From 2017, when "full screen 2.0" was born, to 2018-2019, when the screen form was dominated, and then to 2020-2021, which is the closest to us. We can see that as the production process of the perforated screen becomes more and more stable, designs such as "Liu Hai screen", "true full screen", "front and rear dual screen", "symmetrical full screen" and so on seem to have been forgotten in the dust of history. However, with the continuous maturity of folding screen and under-screen camera technology, we can foresee another breakthrough in the form of the screen.
Looking at the screen again, although the 5.99-inch screen of the Xiaomi MIX 2 is already the largest one in the 2017 product, it is significantly smaller than the 6.59-inch screen of the vivo NEX S. It can be seen that since the beginning of 2018, the screen size of the flagship mobile phone has developed to between 6.4-6.9 inches, which is very suitable for users who like large-screen mobile phones, but the small-screen flagship is almost missing.
As for the screen material, in addition to the Xiaomi MIX 2 using JDI customized LCD screen, since 2018, basically all flagship mobile phones tend to use OLED screens, after all, OLED screens do have a better color range and higher brightness, naturally more pleasing to consumers' eyeballs.
From the actual experience, compared with the Xiaomi MIX 2, the Vivo NEX S using the old Samsung AMOLED screen and the Huawei P30 Pro with the BOE OLED screen do have more advantages in color performance, the screen brightness of the Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra is improved compared to the previous two products, and the OPPO Find X3 Pro's 2K screen is indeed more outstanding in display effect.
Since 2020, the flagship mobile phone has another big change, that is, the high frame rate display, Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra and OPPO Find X3 Pro both support 120Hz refresh rate, the fluency improvement is obvious to all, and there is a great improvement in gaming and daily browsing. It can be seen that in order to catch up with the fluency of the iPhone's system, the use of high frame rate displays has become a compulsory course for major flagship mobile phones.
In terms of rear camera arrangement, we can see the center single camera, the upper left dual camera module, the upper left triple camera module, the upper left quad camera module and the upper left quad camera square module. In general, the arrangement of the camera determines the recognition of a mobile phone, and the rear camera arrangement will only bring different back-facing looks, and there is no absolute advantage or disadvantage, and the actual perception is a matter of opinion.
However, from the evolution of the rear camera module, we can intuitively see the improvement of the flagship mobile phone imaging system. Nowadays, a single camera can not meet the user's imagination for the flagship camera imaging system, in the mobile phone appearance continues to assimilate the current, the imaging system is the manufacturer's design of the "key care object", the flagship mobile phone in order to a stronger imaging system and add a camera with more functions is also a trend.
Experience part: performance triple jump, daily use is almost inseparable
After all, it is the flagship, the mobile phones participating in this election are all equipped with the top processor at that time, not only the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 series flagship processor (Snapdragon 835, Snapdragon 845, Snapdragon 865, Snapdragon 888), but also Huawei's Kirin HiSilicon flagship processor (Kirin 980), in their bodies, we can take a good look at the performance leap of flagship mobile phones in recent years.
According to the convention, we still have to run the basic Antutu test and the 3DMark test, and the final result is shown in the following figure. From the perspective of running points, even if it is criticized by consumers as a "routine replacement" Snapdragon processor, the gap between each generation of processors is very obvious, whether it is CPU or GPU performance seems to be steadily improving.
Of course, as we all know, the reference significance of running scores for actual experience is actually not great. For users, the opening speed of daily applications, the retention time of applications in the background, the frame rate when playing games, and the heat of daily use are more important. Therefore, our next test project is also closer to the daily needs of users.
Project 1: Application loading speed, we test the opening speed of WeChat, Taobao and 3 mobile games ("Original God", "League of Legends", "Peace Elite") respectively, record the time taken after loading, and then empty the background for repeated testing, and the final result takes the average speed of multiple tests.
Project two: background retention rate, we open 15 commonly used APPS in turn, keep the phone still for 3 minutes after all start, record the number of applications that can be retained in the background of different mobile phones, and then empty the background and then test, a total of 3 rounds of testing, the final result takes the average.
The results shown in the figure, in terms of application opening speed, in addition to the Xiaomi MIX 2 because of the Snapdragon 835 + UFS2.1 flash memory, the gap is somewhat large, the other four products are loaded at a speed between Bozhong. It can be seen that despite the improvement in flash memory specifications, the read and write speed of UFS 3.1 does not seem to intuitively affect the application opening speed. At the same time, we can also find that even the current flagship mobile phone still generally uses 256GB of flash memory as the top storage configuration, which is somewhat suspected of standing still.
In terms of application retention, the Xiaomi Mix 2 with only 6GB of LPDDR4X memory is naturally the worst performer, thanks to the good optimization of the system, vivo NEX S and Huawei P30 Pro performance between BoZhong, with higher specifications of memory Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra and OPPO Find X3 Pro naturally stand out. From 6GB/8GB to 12GB/16GB, the memory specifications of flagship phones have evolved faster than PC.
From their daily experience, although there is a difference in data, but the difference in the application speed of these machines is not large, at the same time, even if it is the oldest Xiaomi MIX 2, there is currently no brushing web page, switching WeChat chat, the browser is killed, the overall application retention rate is still relatively optimistic.
As the flagship model of each manufacturer, the system support of these products is very durable, of which Xiaomi MIX 2 can be updated to MIUI 12, vivo NEX S can be updated to OriginOS, and Huawei P30 Pro can be updated to the latest Hongmeng system. If you ignore the gap caused by the high brush of the screen and just pursue daily use, these old flagship products can still meet daily needs, that is, the system animation may be a little slow.
Next, we selected three games of "Original God", "League of Legends", and "Peace Elite" for game experience testing, and the results are as follows:
It can be seen that when playing light and medium games such as "League of Legends" and "Peace Elite", by moderately reducing the picture quality, each product here can get a good game experience - at least 60 frames of smooth experience. It should be known that until the Snapdragon 780G, the GPU performance of qualcomm's mid-range processor can barely break the wrist with the Snapdragon 845, and such a result is naturally not surprising.
However, when playing the popular high-quality stand-alone mobile game such as "Original God", the performance gap between processors is instantly magnified. In actual testing, even if the picture quality is reduced, the Xiaomi Mix 2, vivo NEX S and Huawei P30 Pro cannot achieve better game performance in "Original God", only the game frame rate of Xiaomi 10 Ultra and OPPO Find X3 Pro is quite remarkable.
(Huawei P30 Pro Pro
As for the game heat dissipation, because the processor is different, the power consumption is naturally different, and the thermal performance of the product is not the same. From the actual experience, in the light and moderate game state, vivo NEX S should be the best controlled product among these products, under the heavy game, all five flagships will be hot, perhaps only Huawei P30 Pro is relatively less hot. It can be said that the configuration increased by manufacturers in heat dissipation is basically all "swallowed up" by the increasing chip power consumption.
Image system: the iteration speed is very fast, and the night scene forms a significant difference
It has to be said that in recent years, the imaging system has become the flagship selling point that manufacturers are most concerned about. In fact, this is not surprising, consumer demand for picture recording and the increasing computing power of smart phones provide a broad space for the development of mobile photography.
From the parameters, we can see at a glance the trend of mobile phone image development in recent years. From single camera, dual camera, and then to today's four-camera module, this is the result of mobile phone manufacturers sparing no effort to pile up materials, it can be said that the current flagship machine has achieved comprehensive coverage from ultra-wide angle to telephoto lens. However, the parameters are only parameters after all, and whether they are good or not must be verified by actual samples. To this end, we placed 8 flagship phones in the same variable environment for shooting testing, and selected the best sample for comparison.
Daytime comparison
As you can see, outside in the daytime, indoors with plenty of light, several of the phones we reviewed can take good photos. Even the Xiaomi Mi MIX 2, which has the worst hardware quality, can take visible photos in this environment. In other aspects, the resolution of Xiaomi 10 Ultra should be the most prominent of these products, the resolution of Huawei-based mobile phones is still very good today, and the sample color taken by OPPO is more pleasing.
In terms of shooting experience, the Xiaomi Mix 2 and vivo NEX S have dropped frames and smeared shadows when taking pictures. Especially Xiaomi MIX 2, the camera application of this product seems to have stopped updating very early, there are almost no other functions except for taking pictures and photography, and it takes half a day to take a photo, and the photo experience is really poor.
In contrast, the camera experience of the three flagship phones closer to our timeline is excellent, and there is no frame drop or shadow dragging when framing, and daytime photography can basically be taken immediately, and the image function is also very rich. It can be seen that even if the daytime sample is basically enough, the manufacturers are still optimizing for the actual experience of users.
Low-light contrast
Different from the daytime scene, the night scene can be said to be the place where the current flagship mobile phone is far superior to the previous flagship mobile phone. Nowadays, the main camera of the mobile phone is getting stronger and stronger, and the aperture is getting larger and larger, and it can be said that the flagship mobile phone has taken most of the night scenes is no longer a problem at all.
As shown in the figure, the Xiaomi Mix 2 can be said to be completely incapable of night vision, so the relevant samples can be automatically ignored. Although vivo NEX S is equipped with a night view mode, each night scene photo needs to be exposed and rendered for 5-10 seconds, the experience is relatively average, but the photo effect is very good.
In the scene of low light, the advantages of the new flagship phone are revealed, and the night scene effect of the three flagship phones closer to our timeline is very good. In particular, the Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra, thanks to the large amount of light, we can clearly see that the surrounding dark scenes have enough brightness to ensure detail and clarity.
To summarize simply, the current flagship mobile phone has formed a comprehensive crush on the daytime photography, night shooting, photography experience and the previous generation of products. Considering the evolution speed of ISPs, sensors, and imaging technologies, it is no wonder that the imaging applications and related functions of mobile phones have become the eye-catching "magic weapon" of major terminal manufacturers, and for consumers pursuing mobile imaging functions, it is indeed possible to replace new mobile phones every year.
Other configurations: double Yang popularization, fast charging acceleration
After talking about the appearance, experience and image, let's take a closer look at the other hardware configurations. The first is the problem of mobile phone battery life that everyone is very concerned about. The products we tested are basically showing a trend of increasing battery capacity year by year, for which we have specially prepared the conventional endurance test of Lei Technology, including one hour of "Peace Elite", half an hour of Bilibili and Weibo after a total of two hours of high-intensity use, the test results are as follows.
It can be seen that the Xiaomi Mix 2 with a 3300mAh battery has obviously been somewhat out of step with the times. What is more surprising is that the vivo NEX S with a 4000mAh battery and the Huawei P30 Pro with a 4200mAh battery actually have a better battery life than the new flagship. The reason for this is the separation between the battery technology and the constant leap in processor power consumption and the high brush screen.
As the saying goes: the battery life is not enough, and the charge is fast. Since battery technology is not moving forward, fast charging technology has naturally become a breakthrough for various manufacturers. Even if we only look at the parameters, we can feel the rapid progress of fast charging technology in recent years. After entering 2020, the fast charging speed of about 65W has become the norm in the mobile phone market, in order to stabilize the new processor and 2K+120Hz screen, manufacturers are still moving towards higher charging power.
Unfortunately, because some of our purchased products are not equipped with official chargers, it is not possible to test the charging speed. Attached are past test parameters for your reference.
Flagship mobile phones, naturally have a flagship level of audio and video experience. In addition to excellent screen quality, the external sound quality of the mobile phone is also very important. In the test products, in addition to the vivo NEX S and Huawei P30 Pro, which belong to the single speaker, the Xiaomi Mix 2, Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra and OPPO Find X3 Pro all use dual speakers. It can be seen that dual speakers have basically become the standard of flagship mobile phones now.
From the experience point of view, regardless of the quality, the experience of dual speakers is always much better than that of single speakers. Among the dual-speaker devices, the top speaker of the Xiaomi Mix 2 is significantly on the lower sound side, so the experience is not as good as the other two devices. If you want to pick out the device with the best sound quality, then the Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra will win, but the problem of Xiaomi external back panel vibration really needs to be solved.
In addition to sight and hearing, the influence of touch on the mobile phone experience is also gradually being valued. From here we can see that Xiaomi MIX 2 does use a lot of configurations beyond the times, and the linear vibration motor with better performance and stronger texture than the traditional rotor motor has now begun to popularize on the Android flagship machine, and more and more flagship mobile phones have begun to use X-axis linear motors, and the vibration feel has been doubled.
summary
This year-end horizontal evaluation is basically here, let us first ask a question: "The flagship mobile phone of five years ago, can it still be used today?" ”
The answer is yes, if you don't chase the ultimate experience brought by any technology, as long as the mobile phone can meet the daily needs. Then even the Xiaomi Mix 2 five years ago can still be used today, and may even be more useful than many mid-range mobile phones. Of course, such as fast charging, screen and other peripheral configurations are backward, it will indeed make people less pleasant to use, and the comprehensive experience is far worse than the current new flagship.
Next, let's ask a question: "Is there any improvement between the flagship aircraft now and the flagship aircraft of a few years ago?" ”
If you take five years as the timeline, the flagship mobile phone is undoubtedly making rapid progress. Today's flagship products can be described as comprehensive improvements in terms of shape design, screen quality, core configuration, image experience and peripheral configuration. Whether it's a high-brush 2K screen, high-speed wired/wireless fast charging or HD multi-camera, telephoto wide-angle, computational photography, or a more user-friendly operating system, these advances in flagship products are visible to the naked eye.
However, if we take two years as the timeline, it is not difficult to find that the things updated by smartphones in the past two years are much more "stingy" than before, and many of them are updates to some small functions. In addition to the 2K screen, other advances such as high-brush screens, high-speed fast charging, dual speakers, linear motors, and many imaging aspects can basically be found in the flagship phone of 2020.
Yes, the development of the smartphone industry may really be in a bottleneck.
Why is this happening? Xiao Lei believes that there are three main reasons for this situation, one of which is the supply chain problem caused by the epidemic. The sudden outbreak of the new crown epidemic has had a huge impact on domestic mobile phone manufacturers and related supply chains and manufacturing capacity.
Although mobile phone manufacturers can rely on remote work for coordination, the start of operation delays of upstream suppliers and foundries will inevitably lead to temporary labor supply shortages and insufficient production capacity. In the case of insufficient supply chain capacity, in order to ensure that products can be released according to the original plan, many manufacturers can only use backup solutions, which also leads to serious homogenization problems in many products.
Second, battery technology is relatively backward. It is not difficult to find that while the core configuration and peripheral configuration of the mobile phone are rapidly evolving, battery technology has not kept up with the pace of evolution. From the previous horizontal evaluation, we can also see that although the battery capacity of the flagship product in the past two years has been improved, the endurance is not as good as the product of two years ago, and the use of fast charging technology can only be used to meet the needs of users from the side.
According to incomplete statistics, the smartphone battery occupies about 40% of the internal space of the mobile phone, and the limitations of lithium battery technology make manufacturers have to make choices in appearance, endurance and function, and also make the current flagship mobile phone thick and heavy. The battery has become the most important bottleneck restricting the development of smart phones. Until battery technology achieves a revolutionary breakthrough, it may be difficult for smartphones to go any further.
Third, the technology of various manufacturers has fallen into a bottleneck. In the past two years, manufacturers seem to be no longer keen to build a concept phone that may not be mass-produced and marketable, but has a large number of new technologies, showing the industry and consumers the possible development route of future products. Behind this, it is not difficult to see the manufacturer's helplessness for the lack of new technology, and the regret that the original concept technology cannot achieve mass production.
Is the smartphone industry coming to an end? Xiao Lei will not comment on this view, it is certain that the progress on the flagship mobile phone will only be more inconspicuous in the future, and the gap between the use experience of the thousand yuan machine and the flagship machine will become smaller and smaller. Perhaps one day, the law of "buying new and not buying old" in the digital industry will really be broken, which is undoubtedly a sad thing for the entire industry.