Mobile Technology

We've barely got into 2021 and the first flagship phones of the year are already here. Samsung just revealed its Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21 Plus and Galaxy S21 Ultra handsets for 2021, following on from last year's Galaxy S20 series.

Motorola has unveiled four new affordable Moto G phones at CES 2021, and there's something for everyone shopping for a value-for-money Android phone: we've got 5G, a stylus-enabled model, strong battery life and more in this new selection.

The new year is a time to look forwards into the future as well as backwards into the past, and thanks to a series of leaks, rumors and early announcements, we already know (or think we know) what's coming down the line for smartphones in 2021.

In what we'd expect to be the last flagship phone launch of the year, Xiaomi has unveiled the Mi 11 with the brand new Snapdragon 888 chipset from Qualcomm on board – though you won't actually be able to buy the phone until 2021.

OnePlus has taken a break from releasing phones you can actually buy to show off its latest prototype creation, the OnePlus 8T Concept. It showcases a number of cutting-edge technologies, including a back casing that changes color in response to various triggers.

The year 2020 has been a strange and disruptive one for all of us, but the smartphone industry has barely slowed down and we've seen some fantastic handsets appear. These are our picks for the very best phones that launched in 2020.

Last month, Oppo offered a glimpse into a possible smartphone future with the Oppo X 2021, a concept with a rollable display. Now the company has demonstrated another concept at the China International Industrial Design Expo – the slide-phone.

The top-tier Snapdragon processors are usually the chipsets of choice for flagship Android phones, and Qualcomm just unveiled the mobile system-on-a-chip (SoC) that's going to appear in plenty of 2021 handsets: the Snapdragon 888.

While the iPhone 12 Pro Max isn't particular ground-breaking in terms of what it offers, it's the newest, and the biggest, and the best iPhone that money can buy right now – and you will need a lot of money for it.

All of the major smartphones of 2020 are out – but which is best for you? New Atlas compares the specs and features of the iPhone 12 mini, 12, 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max, the Google Pixel 4a, 4a 5G and 5, and the Samsung Galaxy S20, S20+ and S20 Ultra.

Although foldable phones have only just made their way onto the smartphone scene, manufacturers are already exploring the next innovation: handsets with rollable displays. One of the first to break cover is the Oppo X 2021 concept phone.

Augmented reality has previously allowed us to place furniture in a room before buying, bring photos to life and go gaming on the streets. Now you can have a life-like avatar perform an upbeat version of a Beethoven classic in your front room.