It may seem like a step backward, but in reality, it's a step forward in user experience.

2024 marked a significant year for AI hardware innovation.

'Focusing on applications over parameters' has become an industry consensus. On one hand, hardware is rapidly integrating AI capabilities, leading to an explosion of AI-infused devices across various industries, including mobile phones, PCs, home appliances, automobiles, cleaning products, home furnishings, headphones, cameras, and storage. On the other hand, AI is deeply transforming software, with native AI applications like Wenxiaoyan and Doubao gaining popularity, and traditional tools like search engines, input methods, browsers, payment systems, office software, and e-commerce platforms being restructured by AI.

AI has become a 'magic wand' for technological innovation, and this is just the beginning.

In December, the 'Leitech·Annual' special section was launched, with 'Focus on 2024' systematically reviewing notable companies, products, technologies, and figures in the tech industry for that year. 'Outlook 2025' will 'spoiler' anticipated products and technologies, paying tribute to innovation, recording the times, and inspiring the future.

Please subscribe and stay tuned.

2024 was a year of rapid mobile phone development intertwined with apparent 'regression.' We witnessed strides in AI, foldable devices, and imaging, but also noticed 'regressive' hardware configurations in some products. What mobile phone configurations regressed in 2024? As part of Leitech's 2024 annual special, we review these trends.

From Multiple Camera Sensors Back to Fewer

Mobile phone manufacturers once believed that more camera sensors and larger sensor modules equaled stronger imaging capabilities. The market even saw phones like the Nokia 9 PureView with seven rear cameras, albeit two of the slots were for a flash and a sensor. This arrangement was unprecedented.

(Image source: GSMArena)

In the domestic market, there were also phones with five rear cameras, such as the Xiaomi CC9 Pro, Huawei P40 Pro+, and Huawei Mate40Pro+. In hindsight, the only advantage of having five cameras was better marketing; however, they had many shortcomings, including larger occupied space, higher material costs, and coordination difficulties in algorithms. In simpler terms, they looked good but were impractical.

(Image source: Huawei Official)

Subsequently, a large number of products with four or five rear cameras emerged, but most had only one or two good cameras paired with several filler lenses, making them impressive on paper but failing to meet expectations in actual shooting performance.

Starting in 2023, as consumers became aware of these 'tricks' and internal phone space became precious, phones with four cameras became less common, with only top-tier imaging flagships equipped with such configurations. The vivo X100 Ultra, released in 2024, adopted a new approach by reducing the number of rear cameras on imaging flagships to three, each capable of independently producing high-quality photos.

The Xiaomi 14 Ultra and OPPO Find X7 Ultra, released the same year, both used two high-quality telephoto lenses for portrait and long-distance shooting, while the vivo X100 Ultra replaced these with a single 200-megapixel ultra-high-quality periscope telephoto lens, reducing the space occupied by camera sensors while providing a better telephoto experience.

(Image source: OPPO Official)

Mid-range and entry-level phones have also abandoned the 'camera sea tactics,' generally returning to a triple camera setup of a main camera, an ultra-wide-angle lens, and a telephoto lens, or even a 'retro' combination of just a main camera and an ultra-wide-angle lens. This is not a regression in configuration. With the same cost, it is better to have two high-quality sensors than three low-quality ones. Instead of relying on four or five cameras, phone manufacturers are now focusing on dual and triple camera setups.

Early '100-megapixel' cameras were similar; while they seemed impressive, they had various drawbacks such as extremely slow imaging speeds, daily use resolution of only 12.5 megapixels, and large photo file sizes, eventually disappearing from the market. Mobile phone camera resolution is finally returning to basics, becoming more pragmatic.

Will the number of mobile phone lenses continue to decrease, eventually returning to just one? Lei believes that a single lens will be difficult to achieve in the short term, but it is possible in three to five years, once liquid lens technology matures.

A so-called liquid lens incorporates a 'human eye lens' into a mobile phone camera. We can seamlessly adjust the focal length because the ciliary muscle in the eye automatically adjusts the curvature of the lens in the eyeball. A liquid lens is normally a concave lens, but when stimulated by a 110V voltage, the liquid surface changes to form a convex lens, creating a focusing effect.

A single liquid lens can simultaneously handle the roles of a main camera, ultra-wide-angle lens, and telephoto lens, solving the problem of sensors occupying too much internal space in phones. The only issue is that the technology is still not mature and the cost is extremely high.

Fast Charging Regressed from 10 Minutes to 1 Hour

Before breakthroughs in battery technology, mobile phone manufacturers could only improve user experience by increasing charging speeds. It took only three to four years to transition from early 5W and 10W chargers to 65W, 100W, and even 240W chargers. Phones equipped with 240W chargers could fully charge a 4000mAh battery in just ten minutes. Lei once believed that the era of fully charging a phone in five or even three minutes was imminent.

However, technological development surprised everyone: led by flagship phones, charging power quickly dropped from 240W to around 100W, with charging times returning to 40 or even 50 minutes. This is Lei's biggest gripe with new phones in recent years: whereas one could previously charge up to 80% while brushing teeth, it's now difficult to even reach 30%.

(Image source: vivo Official)

This is related to the increasing battery capacity of mobile phones. In 2023, many phone batteries had capacities of around 4000-4500mAh, but by 2024, even 5500mAh was considered insufficient, with 6000mAh batteries becoming common. Increasing silicon content in batteries necessitates compromising charging rates to prevent excessive heat during charging. Additionally, manufacturers must introduce complex charging protection mechanisms to protect batteries, a trade-off by necessity.

In real life, we can't carry a charger everywhere, so longer battery life better suits most people's lifestyles. In other words, if a phone charges quickly but has a small battery, it may need to be charged two or three times a day. A larger battery, however, can reduce this to a single daily charge.

Lei interviewed several Android and Apple users around him. While Android users can indeed recharge quickly in a short time, in their daily routines, charging typically occurs overnight while sleeping, making fast charging less critical in this scenario.

Compared to extreme fast charging, small, high-capacity batteries are the real market demand. If there are no unexpected developments, mobile phone battery capacities will likely continue to increase in 2025, potentially leading to charging powers reverting to 65W or even lower levels seen in 2020.

Screens Getting Smaller, but Are Small-Screen Flagships a Myth?

'Small-screen enthusiasts' have always been a vocal group online. 2024 was a good year for them, with OPPO, vivo, Xiaomi, and Apple all releasing small-screen flagship phones (defined by Leitech as phones with screens under 6.5 inches).

However, will small-screen phones truly become mainstream in 2025? Not necessarily.

While marketed as flagships, small-screen phones on the market are not truly flagship devices. With smaller bodies, they must compromise on battery life, imaging, and other peripheral configurations.

Take the vivo X200 Pro mini that Lei purchased as an example. While its hardware parameters live up to the title of 'small-screen flagship,' the absence of an ultrasonic fingerprint module, USB 2.0 transmission protocol, and 80W wired + 30W wireless charging combination make it less cost-effective at its 5000 yuan price point. While labeled as a small-screen flagship, visible configuration compromises are evident—small screens and top-tier flagships cannot be equated in the short term.

As for Xiaomi's highly successful digital series, Lei believes its success is not solely due to its small screen but rather a combination of a straight screen and straight edges, a 2.5D back cover, an uncompromised processor, excellent battery life, and decent imaging performance. The small screen is merely an added bonus.

According to sales data for the iPhone 16 series shared by tech blogger @WisdomChipInsider, the more expensive iPhone 16 Pro Max accounted for approximately 50% of total shipments, nearly equal to the combined shipments of the other three models. Clearly, users prefer larger-screen phones.

Lei believes that if Xiaomi gives up its small-screen flagship approach with the Xiaomi 16, maintaining the current configuration and increasing the size to 6.7 inches, sales could be even more impressive.

In Lei's view, most small-screen phones on the market are merely ripples in a sea of homogeneity. Similar ripples include gaming phones, ultra-thin phones, and dual-screen phones.

Mobile Phones Becoming 'All-in-One Computers,' with Thinness Only a Fond Memory

Lei still remembers the impact of the Xiaomi 10 Ultimate Commemorative Edition, not because of its extravagant specifications but due to its nearly 1cm thickness and 222g weight, making it cumbersome for daily use. Lei later bought an iPhone 12 for balance.

In earlier years, manufacturers crammed as many features as possible into a single phone, paying little attention to its thickness and weight. Half-pound 'brick' phones were common, with even the vivo X Fold weighing a hefty 311 grams.

Later, mobile phone manufacturers began 'slimming down' their products: using lighter and thinner materials, reducing internal hardware, and using optical illusions to make products appear thinner.

The Xiaomi Civi series is a typical product of this era, representing Xiaomi's only product line focused on ultra-thinness and female users: with a slim design, enhanced front and rear cameras paired with mid-range chips, reasonable pricing, and configurations, it is a product line favored by the Leitech editorial team.

(Image source: Xiaomi Official)

However, as we all know, the Civi series failed to become a signature Xiaomi product line, maintaining only modest popularity after four generations. Take the Xiaomi Civi 4 Pro as an example; it has received over 50,000 reviews on JD.com, while the similarly priced but more cost-effective REDMI K80, released later, has sold over 200,000 units in the same store. Clearly, given the same budget, users prefer more well-rounded and cost-effective models. The group that vocally demands thin and light models online remains a small minority. The market has proven that while all-rounder models may not always become blockbusters, models lacking in capabilities may not even have a chance to compete.

Conclusion

There is a pattern to mobile phone development. Neither hardware stacking nor parameter enhancements can be considered significant innovations. Just as Apple defeated Nokia not with parameters but with new interaction methods and disruptive innovations, these are far more valuable than mere 'cold hardware' and parameter improvements.

From this perspective, changes in the number of mobile phone camera lenses, fast charging times, screen sizes, and phone weights may not be the fundamental reasons determining a product's quality. A good mobile phone depends on balance, striking the best combination across technology, design, manufacturing, cost, ecosystem, business, and other dimensions within the framework of physical laws—an art form.

In short, only by focusing on user value and returning to their true usage experience can we create good products, be it mobile phones, PCs, apps, cars, or any other product.

Source: Leitech