2016 was another yr where, for the well-nigh office, it was hard to choice a bad smartphone. Certain, the Galaxy Annotation 7 was an exploding disaster, and as we predicted the LG G5 was a thwarting, but nosotros saw plenty of other fantastic options from manufacturers both big and small. Information technology also seemed like phone makers in 2022 were listening to consumer feedback and improving their designs to include more features and make fewer trade-offs, and that was a good trend to see.

And yet my quest for the perfect handset continues. Some phones came shut – I loved the Google Pixel XL and the Milky way S7 was pretty adept, too – only nothing was without fault. I still defenseless manufacturers packing weak batteries in their about powerful phones, while loading out their budget options with massive batteries. I still struggled to use some horrendous software distributions, even though stock Android is available for all to implement. And I however saw phones that failed to include cardinal features, like microSD menu slots and front facing speakers.

In this commodity, I'll be exploring the perfect smartphone; the flagship phone I want to see in 2022. Every attribute of this phone's hardware and software is grounded in reality, so unfortunately next-generation technologies like lithium-air batteries and 35mm-class camera sensors accept been ruled out. This is a smartphone that should exist possible to create, and something I would absolutely love to see hit the market.

Display: 5.3-inch 1440p Apartment AMOLED

The first thing to lock down most whatever prospective smartphone is the screen size, every bit it dictates the size of the telephone overall. Larger phones with 5.v- or 5.vii-inch screens do provide a ameliorate experience for viewing videos and playing games, simply I'd prefer a smaller 5.3-inch brandish for comfort and everyday usability. 5.3-inches is, in my opinion, the perfect mix between screen real estate and ergonomics for someone with average-sized hands like myself.

For those that read my ideal smartphone article final year, most of this section volition be familiar to you lot.

I've again opted for a 1440p AMOLED. Some may prefer a 1080p display for performance or bombardment life reasons, withal across 2022 and 2022 I saw no observable divergence in either aspect between premium devices that used a 1080p brandish, and those that went for 1440p. If in that location's no difference, yous may besides opt for the better technology.

There's another factor at play here: virtual reality. While this was merely a passing thought in last year's commodity, the rise of Google Daydream towards the terminate of 2022 makes a VR-capable display a requirement for any flagship phone in 2022. For the best VR experience, you lot desire the highest resolution, which is why 1440p hither is a far improve choice than 1080p. A 4K display was considered – we saw one in Sony'south Xperia Z5 Premium – but I opted for 1440p as current smartphone SoCs would seriously struggle to run mobile VR apps at native 4K.

AMOLED engineering science was used for several reasons. It provides better black levels and contrast, leading to a better brandish experience in both everyday usage and VR. Current AMOLEDs from Samsung as well back up wider-than-sRGB color gamuts, which tin deliver more vibrant imagery provided they are calibrated correctly. My ideal smartphone would innovate color direction to Android and take a screen calibrated to Adobe RGB or the DCI-P3 color space. AMOLEDs are besides more responsive than IPS LCDs, and this is important for virtual reality; this screen would need to hit at least 90 Hz for the all-time VR feel.

Finally, I don't want a curved display. Sorry Samsung, but I don't see any real-globe advantage to your curved-edge displays, like we saw in the Galaxy S7 Edge and Milky way Note 7. Information technology looks cracking, but it introduces more glare and slight distortions at the edges. Software also is non perfect yet in recognizing when you're griping the phone on the edges. Keep it flat, though, and I'll be happy.

Body: Water Resistant OnePlus 3-way Metal Unibody

The Galaxy S7 Edge is a sexy smartphone, just my favorite design of 2022 was the OnePlus 3. My ideal smartphone would take meaning design cues from this magnificent slice of hardware, including the gorgeous metal unibody and tough Gorilla Drinking glass iv screen protection. As a flagship telephone, it must look dandy and feel like a premium device when held, so something similar the OnePlus 3's pattern would be well suited to an ideal smartphone.

I would make some changes to the OnePlus 3's torso to make information technology perfect. The OnePlus three is a slim phone, but I'd increment the thickness to conform a larger battery (more than on that afterward). I'd slim downwardly the front bezels on all sides – particularly the top and bottom – to reduce the footprint of the telephone and make it easier to operate. I'd remove the notification slider switch, but I'd keep the antenna lines, which I think add some interest to the minimalist metallic dorsum. The protruding camera module isn't ideal, though the extra thickness could resolve this.

My platonic smartphone would accept a fingerprint sensor, simply I'd motility information technology from beneath the display (like on the OnePlus 3) to the rear panel (like the Google Pixel). Afterward testing many fingerprint sensor locations over the past few years, I find rear sensors to be the most usable and comfy. Front end sensors require you to change hand positions and accomplish below the display to actuate, whereas rear sensors are in a natural position for your fingers during usage.

I'd as well add together two features to my OnePlus 3-style body: IP68 water resistance, and dual front-facing speakers. 2022 brought us a cute h2o resistant metal unibody pattern, the Galaxy S7, and my platonic smartphone would look to replicate this success. It'southward not a crucial inclusion, merely IP68 water resistance would keep this expensive telephone protected from accidental liquid spills and submersions. Plus, with current technology, yous won't need any ports or flaps for this functionality.

As for dual forepart facing speakers, this is a feature we're seeing less and less in high-finish phones, to my great thwarting. There is no ameliorate way to enjoy videos and games on your telephone than with front facing stereo audio, and while you might be using headphones most of the time, stereo is the style to go when you aren't.

Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 835

This early in the year it's difficult to say what processor will come out on meridian, but in 2022 information technology was hard to get wrong with the best hardware from Qualcomm, Samsung or Apple tree. But because Apple tree only produces SoCs for their ain phones, a next-generation Apple SoC is ruled out equally an option for my platonic smartphone. It's a shame, because Apple produces arguably the best SoCs on the market, and I'd dearest to encounter their hardware in my ideal phone.

I ended up choosing the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 over a adjacent-generation Samsung Exynos option for two reasons. Firstly, Snapdragon has beaten Exynos in graphics functioning for several generations thanks to Qualcomm's in-firm Adreno GPUs. The Snapdragon 835 is said to be 25 pct faster than the Snapdragon 820 in GPU performance, and this extra speed could come in handy for VR.

Snapdragon SoCs also tend to throttle less than their Exynos counterparts in heavy graphics workloads; this improved efficiency and performance management could again be useful in my ideal smartphone.

Secondly, Qualcomm is the industry leader in smartphone modem technology. The Snapdragon 835 comes with their new X16 LTE modem, which supports Cat xvi LTE for up to a gigabit of downstream bandwidth. The X16 modem also supports 256-QAM, 4x4 MIMO and 4x CA for a class leading array of cellular connectivity. The Snapdragon 835 likewise supports Bluetooth 5.0 and Wi-Fi 802.11ac/ad.

The Snapdragon 835 volition be very powerful from a CPU perspective, and pack improved power efficiency thanks to a shift to Samsung'due south 10nm FinFET process applied science. We'll be seeing this fleck in a lot of smartphones in 2022, and it'd be a great fit for my ideal handset.

Camera: Sony IMX260 with Dual Pixel and OIS

Dual cameras are all the rage, and the ideal smartphone would pack the all-time dual camera arrangement around. Influenced by the iPhone 7 Plus, the ideal smartphone would pack ii identical rear sensors, with different lenses: one at 24mm for standard wide-angle shots, and a second at 72mm for 3x zoom.

There are several dual camera implementations floating around, but I've called a secondary zoom lens as it's the most useful.

I similar LG's broad-bending camera solution, equally there are many cases where a larger field of view tin come in handy. Huawei's dual sensor setup that provides increased item and depth of field effects is as well neat. Just the i thing I oftentimes find myself needing is extra zoom range from a smartphone photographic camera. You can but get and so much detail and quality from digital zoom, which is why a 3x zoom lens would exist very handy for day to day photography.

Both rear cameras would be based around Sony'due south IMX260 CMOS sensor, the same 12-megapixel sensor found in some Milky way S7 units. The IMX260 is a 1/2.5-inch sensor with one.4μm pixels, leading to improve depression light performance than sensors with ane.1μm pixels. It also features dual pixel technology, which will brand the ideal smartphone one of the fastest smartphone cameras at focusing and capturing images. Every bit dual pixel technology provides excellent phase detection autofocus, there is no longer a need for a laser-assisted system.

Last year I opted for a single 23-megapixel IMX300 sensor with 1.1μm pixels, so this new camera would exist a downgrade in resolution. Nevertheless, the IMX260 with proper processing provides excellent levels of detail, and has amend clarity in depression light due to larger pixels. While wide-angle shots will have reduced zoomability compared to its predecessor, the add-on of the zoom camera improves the overall zoomability of this photographic camera solution, leading to better images and a greater power to see afar objects.

Both rear cameras volition feature optical paradigm stabilization to improve low light performance. Both will likewise exist capable of shooting 4K video at 30 FPS, aslope 1080p at 120 FPS and 720p at 240 FPS, with loftier quality stereo audio. The wide angle camera volition use an f/ane.9 lens, while the zoom camera volition employ an f/2.2 lens as increasing the aperture of this 72mm lens any further would accept led to a larger-than-reasonable camera module.

The forepart camera will exist another Sony IMX260, this time paired with an f/one.vii 24mm lens and OIS. The ideal smartphone won't exist the first handset with OIS for its front end facing camera (the HTC 10 included this feature), but information technology's a smart inclusion that helps evangelize the best low calorie-free selfies. Once more, this sensor would pack 4K video recording.

On the software front, the ideal photographic camera would utilise Google's photographic camera application and paradigm processing. The Pixel includes the best image processing I've seen in a smartphone camera, including nix shutter lag HDR, which is why Google would be enlisted to optimize the camera feel of the ideal smartphone. I'd also infringe Google'due south 4K image stabilization engineering science to ensure the ideal smartphone takes amazingly steady handheld video footage, while inspiration would be taken from LG'due south camera software to create a full manual mode with support for RAW image capture.