Grade: B
Android Central Labs
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Speak about a improbable yr for the North American smartphone market! Whereas there have actually been difficulties to endure — tariffs, rising RAM costs, and geopolitical tensions, to call just a few — the innovation we have seen this yr has led to higher telephones throughout.
In fact, nothing good ever comes with out one thing unhealthy, from tariffs inflicting important distribution and pricing issues to a report degree of homogenization in smartphone design. What’s all this spell for the yr? Let’s break it down.
The yr our eyes had been lastly seen
Since I started writing about it in spring 2023, I have been combating to get smartphone producers to acknowledge the hurt that flickering shows are inflicting clients. We have seen sluggish enhancements as extra individuals have develop into conscious of this drawback, however this yr was essentially the most profitable yr but for real progress.
In August, Google launched a brand new accessibility characteristic that doubled the show’s PWM price. 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 essential 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 develop into an indispensable instrument, it is extra essential than ever for corporations 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 respectable 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 in-built and IP68 water- and dust-resistance.
In the meantime, Motorola’s Razr Extremely outclassed Samsung’s Z Flip 7 in principally each manner whereas teasing a possible new book-style foldable within the new yr, guaranteeing the North American foldable market is beginning to look very wholesome.
In their very own lane
Initially of 2025, the OnePlus 13 launched to glowing critiques, together with our very first 5-star smartphone evaluation. Two years in the past, in case you advised me OnePlus could be the corporate to realize this distinction, I might have been fearful 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 huge impression.
Google’s Pixel 10 launch wasn’t fairly as spectacular as some had hoped, however its aim of creating a telephone for everybody offers 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 also be the primary main Android telephone collection to characteristic MagSafe/Qi2 magnets inside.
This additionally marked the yr of skinny telephones, or so Apple and Samsung thought. Each the iPhone Air and Galaxy S25 Edge launched with large hype, and whereas Samsung beat Apple to the punch by a number of months, nobody appears to have cared in regards to the launches after the very 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 yr. Nothing launched a devoted AI key on its telephones, and loads of different corporations adopted go well with. OnePlus and Motorola pursued an identical strategy, whereas corporations like Samsung and Google repurposed the ability 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 corporations providing some type of true offline AI features. Some customers could not care about this, but it surely’s an essential choice for corporations to supply in an period when cloud computing is ubiquitous and delicate consumer info appears to leak from knowledge facilities continuously.
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 nearly each different metric has proven enchancment. We have wider availability of fashions from corporations, together with essential new additions to the U.S. market from corporations like Nothing and Fairphone, strengthening competitors in a yr when fears over tariffs thought we would see the other.
The scenario in Canada is a lot better than within the U.S. total, although. Canadians should buy all the very best Chinese language telephones, which implies they’ve full entry to the very greatest Android telephones. U.S. clients can technically purchase them by means 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 service infrastructure and the federal government’s arbitrary restrictions, however Canada’s market brings North America’s rating up by a strong grade level total.
