7 smartphone trends I wish would die in 2026

Affiliate links on Android Authority may earn us a commission. Learn more. 7 smartphone trends I wish would die in 2026 12 minutes ago On the whole, 2025 was a pretty good year for Android phones . Some brands stepped up with more respectable update policies , a variety of manufacturers now offer phones with absolutely gigantic batteries, and top-end devices have a crazy amount of horsepower. It’s not all sunshine and roses, though, as we also saw a number of disappointing practices across the industry in 2025. So here are the smartphone trends that I don’t want to see return in 2026. What smartphone trend would you like to die in 2026? 1. Restricting fast charging to proprietary protocols I was amazed by 40W wired charging back in 2018 when I bought my HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro, and I initially dismissed criticism that the phone charged extremely slowly via USB-PD. Fast-forward to 2025, though, and I’m downright annoyed when any phone doesn’t support super-fast charging via the user-friendly USB-PPS protocol. So I really hope we don’t see crappy speeds via this protocol in 2026. The good news is that more brands have recently joined Google and Samsung in embracing fast charging via PPS. Phones like the Xiaomi 17 series and POCO F8 Ultra actually offer 100W speeds via PPS. Even devices like the OPPO Find X9 Pro and realme GT8 Pro offer up to 55W speeds via these plugs. Unfortunately, the OnePlus 15 reportedly tops out at 36W via PPS, but 80 or 120W via the SuperVOOC adapter. Nevertheless, things are definitely moving in the right direction, but it’s time for a few stragglers to catch up. 2. Ultra-thin phones I don’t recall anyone asking for super-thin phones last year, but Samsung and Apple both launched slim devices anyway. We saw the 5.8mm Galaxy S25 Edge back in May, while the 5.6mm iPhone Air was unveiled in September. Apple and Samsung made major sacrifices to their camera hardware, battery capacity, and other areas to offer these thin and light designs. Is it, therefore, any surprise that both of these handsets were reportedly commercial flops? Needless to say, I really don’t want to see more ultra-thin phones in 2026. If anything, I’d much rather see more small phones . 3. Peak speeds over sustained performance One major trend we noticed with several Snapdragon 8 Elite phones is that they prioritize peak speeds over sustained performance. This means we get phones that excel at one-off synthetic benchmarks but absolutely struggle to maintain that performance in stress tests due to high temperatures. This has real-world consequences when playing demanding mobile games and bleeding-edge emulation . Don’t want to miss the best from Android Authority? Set us as a to never miss our latest exclusive reports, expert analysis, and much more. favorite source in Google Discover You can also set us as a by clicking the button below. preferred source in Google Search Unfortunately, it tentatively looks like manufacturers are continuing this practice...

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