Grade: B
Android Central Labs
Android Central Labs is a weekly column dedicated to deep dives, experiments, and a targeted look into the tech you employ. It covers telephones, tablets, and the whole lot in between.
Speak about a incredible 12 months for the North American smartphone market! Whereas there have definitely been difficulties to endure — tariffs, rising RAM costs, and geopolitical tensions, to call a couple of — the innovation we have seen this 12 months has led to raised telephones throughout.
In fact, nothing good ever comes with out one thing unhealthy, from tariffs inflicting important distribution and pricing issues to a document degree of homogenization in smartphone design. What’s all this spell for the 12 months? Let’s break it down.
The 12 months our eyes had been lastly seen
Since I started writing about it in spring 2023, I have been preventing to get smartphone producers to acknowledge the hurt that flickering shows are inflicting prospects. We have seen gradual enhancements as extra individuals have change into conscious of this downside, however this 12 months was probably the most profitable 12 months but for real progress.
In August, Google launched a brand new accessibility characteristic that doubled the show’s PWM fee. Apple adopted a month later with a brand new accessibility characteristic that disabled PWM dimming at low brightness. Whereas neither of those options solves the issue in its entirety, it marks a milestone for the flicker-sensitive group.
Most Chinese language producers proceed to supply the very best eye care options, however seeing Google and Apple start work on this necessary matter is an enormous deal.
People who find themselves flicker-sensitive can’t use telephones with flickering shows in any respect, and in a world the place smartphones have change into an indispensable instrument, it is extra necessary than ever for firms to make use of eye-friendly settings.
Foldables obtained thrilling once more
Regardless of no follow-up to our favourite foldable of 2023 and 2024 (the OnePlus Open), the foldable market was higher than ever, even when worldwide markets nonetheless get the very best selections. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 7 is the foldable we have been wanting the corporate to make for years, even when it dropped S Pen assist to get as skinny as it’s.
Then Samsung launched the TriFold in choose worldwide markets. Whereas it is not formally out there in North America proper now, will probably be quickly.
Motorola and Google additionally lastly gave Samsung some first rate competitors, launching the premium Motorola Razr Extremely and the Pixel 10 Professional Fold. Whereas Google’s entry wasn’t the very best, it marked the primary foldable to ship with MagSafe/Qi2 magnets inbuilt and IP68 water- and dust-resistance.
In the meantime, Motorola’s Razr Extremely outclassed Samsung’s Z Flip 7 in mainly each approach whereas teasing a possible new book-style foldable within the new 12 months, guaranteeing the North American foldable market is beginning to look very wholesome.
In their very own lane
At the start of 2025, the OnePlus 13 launched to glowing evaluations, together with our very first 5-star smartphone evaluate. Two years in the past, in the event you instructed me OnePlus could be the corporate to realize this distinction, I’d have been apprehensive about your sanity. However the stars appeared to align completely on that launch, because the OnePlus 15, which launched later in 2025, did not make the identical massive impression.
Google’s Pixel 10 launch wasn’t fairly as spectacular as some had hoped, however its objective of creating a cellphone for everybody provides it a singular leg up on the competitors. Pixels have notably eaten into Samsung’s market share, now accounting for 7% of telephones offered. The Pixel 10 can be the primary main Android cellphone collection to characteristic MagSafe/Qi2 magnets inside.
This additionally marked the 12 months of skinny telephones, or so Apple and Samsung thought. Each the iPhone Air and Galaxy S25 Edge launched with huge hype, and whereas Samsung beat Apple to the punch by a number of months, nobody appears to have cared concerning the launches after the actual fact. Each Samsung and Apple have reportedly already canceled the follow-ups, however possibly one thing else will do higher subsequent time.
AI takes over
Each firm adopted main AI platform options this 12 months. Nothing launched a devoted AI key on its telephones, and loads of different firms adopted go well with. OnePlus and Motorola pursued an analogous method, whereas firms like Samsung and Google repurposed the facility button or used devoted apps to realize comparable targets.
We additionally began seeing “AI hub apps,” letting customers decide their favourite AI assistant to finish system duties. OnePlus launched Thoughts Area with Gemini integration, whereas Moto AI lets customers select between Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Perplexity for its AI duties.
However Samsung and Google appear to be the one firms providing some form of true offline AI capabilities. Some customers might not care about this, nevertheless it’s an necessary choice for firms to supply in an period when cloud computing is ubiquitous and delicate consumer info appears to leak from knowledge facilities always.
An enchancment over 2024
The North American smartphone market stays closely reliant on carriers and their affect over the manufacturers offered within the nation, however virtually each different metric has proven enchancment. We have wider availability of fashions from firms, together with necessary new additions to the U.S. market from firms like Nothing and Fairphone, strengthening competitors in a 12 months when fears over tariffs thought we would see the alternative.
The state of affairs in Canada is a lot better than within the U.S. general, although. Canadians should purchase all the very best Chinese language telephones, which implies they’ve full entry to the very finest Android telephones. U.S. prospects can technically purchase them by way of third-party sellers on websites like eBay, however these telephones are sometimes costlier and include no guarantee, making them a no-sale for most individuals.
If I needed to grade the U.S. by itself, I might give it a C- due to the absurdity of our provider infrastructure and the federal government’s arbitrary restrictions, however Canada’s market brings North America’s rating up by a strong grade level general.
