Not so long ago, on the pages of Mobile-Review, there was material about the flagships, which will be announced in the coming months:
Five flagships of autumn. What is known about the most anticipated smartphones of the second half of the year?
However, there are 5 more devices that users are waiting for no less, but it is far from the fact that they will ever go on sale. Although no one bothers us to dream and savor rumors about them, so let's get down to it.
iPhone SE 2
Rumors about the appearance of a new compact iPhone appear on the network with enviable regularity, especially a lot is said about it before the presentations of the Cupertinos. The original iPhone SE has become an extremely popular model, and deservedly so: good design, compact dimensions, relatively up-to-date filling and, most importantly, a very pleasant price for the company's smartphone Apple.
In my opinion, the new iPhone SE is exactly what is needed now Apple in the face of losing market share and decreasing revenue from smartphones. Obviously, the market lacks iOS – devices in the middle segment, and iPhone XR with such a price tag clearly does not pull it.
But what could be iPhone SE 2? It is not yet known for certain. A number of concept makers suggest that it will be a smartphone in the same dimensions 5 / 5S / SE, with the same angular body, but a frameless screen with a cutout for Face ID.
This raises two important questions. First, who needs a smartphone in 2019, even with a 5-inch display? The world is not without conservative people, but it is unlikely that there will be any significant number of them. Secondly, how long will the battery last, which would be realistically placed in such a case? In my subjective opinion, the autonomy of iPhone 7/8 is far from comfortable anyway, so in this situation iPhone SE 2 would have to be charged almost at lunchtime. Fortunately, they have not yet thought of building nuclear reactors into smartphones.
A much more realistic scenario could be an update to the classic iPhone 8. In fact, it will be the same classic iPhone with a button and a Touch ID scanner, not a frameless rectangular 4.7 “display and new hardware (probably the Apple A12 Bionic chipset from the current iPhone XS / XR). According to rumors, this option is considered by the company as the main one. And if it appears on Russian shelves at a price of up to 35,000 rubles (this is how much it costs now iPhone 7 in “white” retail), this will give it every chance of becoming another “popular” hit.
I can assume that if iPhone SE 2 is released, it will not be at the September presentation. All attention will be focused on the heirs of XS and XR, while it is unlikely Apple that the fourth device will also represent. I'm betting on March next year, since it is this month Apple that makes interim announcements, and in addition, in March 2016, the original SE was presented, which received a slight update in March 2017.
Smartphone Review Apple iPhone SE
Moto RAZR 2019 with flexible display
A couple of weeks ago it was exactly 15 years old to review Motorola RAZR V3 on our website. By the way, this was the world's first review of the fastest selling smartphone of its time. And over these 15 years, there have been countless rumors about the revival of the legend in one form or another.
GSM Phone Review Motorola V3 
RAZR from Motorola – an unexpected success story 
RAZR from Motorola is an unexpected success story. Part 2 
The RAZR story from Motorola is an unexpected success story. Part 3
However, much, if not all, has changed since then, and that independent Motorola has long since disappeared. But in some form, her business still lives on.
At the beginning of the year, almost official information appeared on the network about the upcoming Moto RAZR 2019, which will receive the same design of the thinnest clamshell, but at the same time will have a flexible internal display. Moreover, it was not some news site with dubious leaks that wrote about this, but The Wall Street Journal.
Moreover, the company Lenovo, which now includes the mobile division of Moto, held an official event dedicated to the new product, and showed a fan render there. Either in Lenovo someone went crazy, or the fan got to the point, and the official video turned out to be worse than the fan video.
However, the WSJ note said that the device could be shown in February this year and it will cost $ 1,500, but since then no other information has appeared. This is not surprising, since even the announced smartphones Samsung Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X have not yet gone on sale, let alone Lenovo / Moto, which does not have such access to flexible displays.
I sincerely hope that Moto will at least try to release this RAZR, as in my opinion this implementation of a flexible screen looks most suitable for everyday use. But so far it seems to me that the smartphone exists only on paper and at the beginning of the year it was only a reason for Lenovo / Moto to remind about itself.
Flexible iPhone Fold
The company Apple has not strived to be a pioneer in any field for a long time, but by presenting any device in a new niche for itself, it becomes a locomotive for the entire industry. Before iPhone there were smartphones, before iPad there were tablets, before Apple Watch there were smartwatches, and before AirPods there were wireless headphones, but entering these markets, Apple achieved significant success, simultaneously expanding the market and increasing sales to its competitors. The same effect is expected from the foldable iPhone, which is seriously popularizing this trend, despite the imminent appearance of the Samsung Galaxy Fold and, possibly, Huawei Mate X.
Based on the latest leaks, the supplier of the new type of displays for Apple will be LG. The Korean company is preparing to launch the production of flexible panels in the third quarter of 2019, but the appearance of flexible panels iPhone should be expected no earlier than 2020.
The rest of the information about the future device is still not much. There are published patents, but they are very schematic, and it is not possible to get at least some idea of flexible iPhone on them.
And then there is a cool fan render, and if the future bendable smartphone from Apple looks like it, it will be a very beautiful device.
How much this iPhone will cost, it's scary to even guess. It is unlikely to be cheaper than the Samsung Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X, which means you should expect a price tag of $ 3,000 and up.
Essential Phone PH-2
The first generation Essential Phone from the creator Android Andy Rubin was expected with a breath. This device was one of the first Android smartphones with a relatively frameless screen and a cutout for the front camera. But, firstly, it was very late with the release, and secondly, it had a clearly inflated cost at the start and, as a result, turned out to be of no use to anyone.
It would seem that after such a failure, Andy Rubin and his team should have forgotten for years what it is to create smartphones and even more so to support them, but that was not the case. It turned out that the original Essential Phone PH-1 is still supported, the team continues to release fresh firmware for it on the latest versions Android. Just because of this completely kept promise, the Essential Phone is worthy of a mention in this post, although I sincerely doubt there will be at least 10 people waiting for the second generation of this smartphone. And it was announced by Andy Rubin himself and may come out this year.
The Essential Phone PH-2, if all goes according to plan, should be one of the first devices to feature symmetrical bezels on four sides and an integrated front camera under the display.
Even if almost no one is waiting for this particular device, I think many would like a smartphone with such a front panel design. It's strange that since the end of 2017, no one has yet managed to create symmetrical frames, only iPhone have them. Hopefully the Essential team will succeed and the Essential Phone PH-2 will be a much more successful smartphone than its predecessor.
Pocophone F2
There are many variables in the formula for the ideal smartphone. Their number directly depends on the requirements of the end user, and everything is individual here. However, there is a whole cohort of people that simplifies this formula down to a couple of variables – productivity and price, and the higher the first indicator and lower the second, the better, and the rest does not matter. They are the target audience of smartphones under the Pocophone by sub-brand Xiaomi.
In the ranks of Poco users, the situation was calm while the Snapdragon 845 remained the most powerful chipset on the market. But when the first devices on Snapdragon 855 began to appear, Poco fans began to fuss and wait for the imminent announcement of the Pocophone F2, but it still has not happened. There were even rumors that Xiaomi would curtail this line, and they escalated after the announcement of the Redmi K20 Pro based on Snapdragon 855. But recently, one of the Poco team members said that the heir to F1 is expected worth it, but not in the near future, but at the end of 2019 or the beginning of 2020.
By the way, in the same interview, he noted that the Indian Poco team works autonomously from Xiaomi and has only general logistics and support service with the parent company. In other matters, the Chinese leadership does not interfere at all, including in matters of development and promotion. Thanks to this separation, Pocophone F2 will definitely not become a clone of some Xiaomi or Redmi, but will be a unique device.
Judging by the latest leaks, the new Pocophone model will receive the top Snapdragon 855 (or even its plus version). In addition, not so long ago it became known that the device will use AMOLED – the display. At the same time, the front panel will receive a more modest “chin”, but still the same cutout for the front camera. The cost of the Pocophone F2 is likely to be comparable to the current F1 price tag – about $ 300, or 20,000 rubles.
Conclusion
Compact iPhone SE 2, revived RAZR, flexible iPhone, true-bezeless Essential Phone or obscenely cheap flagship Pocophone F2 – which of these smartphones are you most looking forward to? I personally vote for RAZR and iPhone Fold.