Not since the original iPhone have we been blown away by a smartphone.

Sure, smartphones have come a long way, but not since the first iPhone launch more than a decade ago have we seen this big of a phone revolution.

There was a glimmer of what the next big thing would look like back in 2013 at the Consumer Electronics Show. Samsung had been working on displays so thin and flexible they could fold in half and pop back into place, and at that show, the tech giant was showing off real working prototypes.

Fast forward four more years, and it looks like it’s finally happening. Insiders believe Samsung’s first smartphone with a foldable display will come before the end of 2017.

Till then, however, the next crop of new smartphones will get larger screens without growing in size and will get an even better camera or two. Not as exciting as a tablet that can fold into a phone, but I’m pretty excited nonetheless about the first wave of big announcements coming next week at the 2017 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

Nokia Reincarnated

Everyone loves a good comeback, and everyone loves Nokia. So, when Nokia makes a comeback, fans will go wild. A Finnish company called HMD Global now owns the rights to the Nokia brand and plans on announcing three new Nokia phones at MWC. All three handsets will run Android instead of Windows Mobile, but with the toughness Nokia is known more for. Perhaps even more exciting are rumors that Nokia is also planning on releasing a homage to the iconic Nokia 3310.  

BlackBerry, Android or both?

Another popular smartphone brand making a comeback is BlackBerry. Just like the next-gen Nokia phones, the new BlackBerry device will run Android (instead of BlackBerry OS), but will retain the once popular office phone’s most beloved feature: its physical keyboard.

Huawei’s Dual Camera Takes Two

Last year’s Huawei P9 turned heads with its unique take on dual-camera smartphones — one camera shoots in color, the other in black and white. This year’s P10 promises to improve on that concept with a near identical phone that also gets an iris scanner and a new set of trendy color options.

LG G6 (and Friends?)

What appears to be a trend in 2017, LG’s upcoming flagship G6 will also come with a near borderless display. That means the phone may shrink to a more palm-friendly size, but will still have an even larger display. It too will have a dual-camera setup and waterproofing, slowly becoming standards in this space. But the question on everybody’s mind is will it still support last year’s range of modular accessories. From the looks of it, only last year’s G5 had Friends.

Sony

It’s been two years already and the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium is still the world’s only smartphone with a 4K display. Not that we need as many pixels on a smartphone as we do a TV, but whatever the case, it appears Sony has another one in the works. Four other phones are also being reported; looks like Sony folks have been busy.

Samsung

Also initially planned for an MWC unveiling, Samsung’s decided to postpone the Galaxy S8 launch to March 29. In its place, invites have gone out for the launch of the Galaxy Tab S3. Rumor has it this premium tablet will come with an S Pen stylus, in an effort to fill the void left behind by the Note 7 recall.

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