10 Smartphones That Shaped The 2010s

Smartphones seem to be the best indicator of how technology has grown in the last decade. It not only gives people the means to join social media like Facebook and TikTok but also acts as a pocket-sized camera that we can take anywhere, take a picture anytime and edit them as we want.

The smartphone has also presented in our daily life as a means of payment, smart home control, car unlocking, and web browsing. And now, as 2019 is ending, let’s take a look at the most important smartphones of the 2010s.

Apple iPhone 4 (2010)

This is not just an important phone but also one of the most important smartphones of the decade. The iPhone 4 was the first Apple smartphone to feature a Retina Display, FaceTime, an A-series chip, as well as an all-new metal and glass design.

Compared with its predecessor iPhone 3G, this device was a huge upgrade. Even today, the iPhone remains an iconic iPhone for many people.

Samsung Galaxy Note (2011)

Smartphones these days are all equal to phablets of the beginning of the 2010s, but the one to start it all was the original Galaxy Note.

When Samsung first released the Note, many complained that it was too big, too bulky, or too awkward for use. But the fact is that it just took the world some time to get used to a larger, better screen that they all wanted.

The Note sported an OLED screen while the others featured LCD displays at the time. The smartphone also came with an 8MP camera on the rear, a replaceable battery, as especially a stylus.

The Google Nexus 4 (2012)

Debuted in 2008 and initially created as a camera OS, Android needed time to perfect. The first Android phones sucked and a lot of people walked away from it, never looking back. However, Google finally succeeded in demonstrating the power of Android with the launch of the Nexus 4.

This phone came in a stylish design, becoming of the first handsets to offer Qi wireless charging support.

HTC One M7 (2013)

At the time, this phone’s design was perfect, featuring a unibody aluminum chassis before any other did. It also came with two good front-facing speakers and the phone had the Ultrapixel technology to generate better photos in the dark long before pixel-binning became a popular term.

Amazon Fire Phone (2014)

This phone was bad, it didn’t have the Play Store of any Google apps, making it impossible to install the apps people wanted. Besides, it had six cameras but they weren’t meant to produce better shots but rather to make the home screen fun. But it turned out the cameras were to help users identify products for easier ordering on Amazon.

Blackberry Priv (2015)

This phone was the representative of an important turning point for smartphones: the keyboard we once adored was no longer fashionable. The Prive also marked the death of Research in Motion. BlackBerry phones once accounted for about 20% of the phone market from 2008 to 2010, made up under 1% in 2015 after the launch of the Priv. Later, Blackberry sold the branding to TCL.

Samsung Galaxy Note 7

As a jump straight from the Note 5, the Note 7 was meant to be a flagship of flagships. Samsung gave this smartphone a new iris sensor, a lot of new S-Pen features, a large 5.7-inch screen, as well as a 3,500mAh battery.

However, there were a bunch of issues from the battery including fire. Even after being pulled so the company could solve the problem, it came back and still blew up. Samsung was then forced to re-evaluate its regulations in manufacturing batteries.

iPhone X (2017)

This iPhone was released on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the iPhone. It ditched chunky bezels and touch ID, replaced with an OLED display and a notch.

Besides, the home button, as well as many commands in previous iPhone models, were replaced with gesture control. The special thing is the iPhone was on sale for one year only.

Google Pixel 3 (2018)

The Pixel 3 was a combination of a fingerprint scanner on the rear, an OLED display, support for Qi wireless charging and nifty features such Now Playing for identifying songs and Call Screen.

This phone also came with HDR+ mode and Night Sight for better photography capability. The camera on the Pixel 3 was and now still remains one of the best phone cameras ever made.

Samsung Galaxy Fold (2019)

Last year, the Korean giant unveiled the most-anticipated foldable phone of the year. There were flaws, but the Galaxy Fold showed us that the idea of a foldable smartphone is completely feasible.

The Fold is not perfect (yet) and it’s crazily expensive. But it has a lot to offer, including a large 7.4-inch OLED screen, giving it the ability to replace a tablet. It also gives you a better time watching videos and movies on the go.

Phone with screens made from stiff glass will stay around for another while, but the Galaxy Fold was proof that the smartphone world is full of possibilities that we have yet explored. And as we’re coming to a new decade, hopefully, there will be even more to expect.

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