Form factor and operating system shifts with a large capacitive touchscreen introduced in 2006 ; following its introduction in 2007, the common smartphone form factor shifted to large touchscreen software interfaces without physical keypads The first phone of any kind with a large capacitive touchscreen was the
LG Prada, announced by
LG in December 2006. This was a fashionable
feature phone created in collaboration with Italian luxury designer
Prada with a 3" 240 x 400 pixel screen, a 2-Megapixel digital camera with 144p video recording ability, an
LED flash, and a miniature mirror for self portraits. In January 2007,
Apple Computer introduced the
iPhone. It had a 3.5"
capacitive touchscreen with twice the common resolution of most smartphone screens at the time, and introduced
multi-touch to phones, which allowed gestures such as "pinching" to zoom in or out on photos, maps, and web pages. The iPhone was notable as being the first device of its kind targeted at the mass market to abandon the use of a stylus, keyboard, or keypad typical of contemporary smartphones, instead using a large touchscreen for direct finger input as its main means of interaction. not specifically designed for mobile phones. Later Apple shipped a
software update that gave the iPhone a built-in on-device App Store allowing direct wireless downloads of
third-party software. This kind of centralized App Store and free
developer tools quickly became the new main paradigm for all smartphone platforms for software
development,
distribution, discovery,
installation, and payment, in place of expensive developer tools that required official approval to use and a dependence on
third-party sources providing applications for multiple platforms. Android is based around a modified Linux kernel, again providing more power than mobile operating systems adapted from PDAs and feature phones. The first Android device, the horizontal-sliding
HTC Dream, was released in September 2008. In 2012,
Asus started experimenting with a convertible docking system named
PadFone, where the standalone handset can when necessary be inserted into a
tablet-sized screen unit with integrated supportive battery and used as such. In 2013 and 2014, Samsung experimented with the hybrid combination of
compact camera and smartphone, releasing the
Galaxy S4 Zoom and
K Zoom, each equipped with integrated 10×
optical zoom lens and manual parameter settings (including manual exposure and focus) years before these were widely adapted among smartphones. The S4 Zoom additionally has a rotary knob ring around the lens and a tripod mount. While screen sizes have increased, manufacturers have attempted to make smartphones thinner at the expense of utility and sturdiness, since a thinner frame is more vulnerable to bending and has less space for components, namely battery capacity.
Operating system competition with
Flyme OS The iPhone and later touchscreen-only Android devices together popularized the slate
form factor, based on a large
capacitive touchscreen as the sole means of interaction, and led to the decline of earlier, keyboard- and keypad-focused platforms. More recent "bezel-less" types have their screen surface space extended to the unit's front bottom to compensate for the display area lost for simulating the navigation keys. While virtual keys offer more potential customizability, their location may be inconsistent among systems depending on screen rotation and software used. Multiple vendors attempted to update or replace their existing smartphone platforms and devices to better-compete with Android and the iPhone; Palm unveiled a new platform known as
webOS for its
Palm Pre in late-2009 to replace
Palm OS, which featured a focus on a task-based "card" metaphor and seamless synchronization and integration between various online services (as opposed to the then-conventional concept of a smartphone needing a PC to serve as a "canonical, authoritative repository" for user data).
HP acquired Palm in 2010 and released several other webOS devices, including the
Pre 3 and
HP TouchPad tablet. As part of a proposed divestment of its consumer business to focus on enterprise software, HP abruptly ended development of future webOS devices in August 2011, and sold the rights to webOS to
LG Electronics in 2013, for use as a
smart TV platform.
Research in Motion introduced the vertical-sliding
BlackBerry Torch and BlackBerry OS 6 in 2010, which featured a redesigned user interface, support for gestures such as pinch-to-zoom, and a new web browser based on the same
WebKit rendering engine used by the iPhone. The following year, RIM released BlackBerry OS 7 and new models in the
Bold and Torch ranges, which included a new Bold with a touchscreen alongside its keyboard, and the Torch 9860—the first BlackBerry phone to not include a physical keyboard. In 2013, it replaced the legacy BlackBerry OS with a revamped,
QNX-based platform known as
BlackBerry 10, with the all-touch
BlackBerry Z10 and keyboard-equipped
Q10 as launch devices. In 2010, Microsoft unveiled a replacement for Windows Mobile known as
Windows Phone, featuring a new touchscreen-centric user interface built around
flat design and typography, a home screen with "live tiles" containing feeds of updates from apps, as well as integrated
Microsoft Office apps. In February 2011, Nokia announced that it had entered into a major partnership with Microsoft, under which it would exclusively use Windows Phone on all of its future smartphones, and integrate Microsoft's
Bing search engine and
Bing Maps (which, as part of the partnership, would also license
Nokia Maps data) into all future devices. The announcement led to the abandonment of both Symbian, as well as
MeeGo—a Linux-based mobile platform it was co-developing with Intel. Nokia's low-end
Lumia 520 saw strong demand and helped Windows Phone gain niche popularity in some markets, overtaking BlackBerry in global market share in 2013. In mid-June 2012,
Meizu released its mobile operating system,
Flyme OS. Many of these attempts to compete with Android and iPhone were short-lived. Over the course of the decade, the two platforms became a clear
duopoly in smartphone sales and market share, with BlackBerry, Windows Phone, and other operating systems eventually stagnating to little or no measurable market share. In 2015, BlackBerry began to pivot away from its in-house mobile platforms in favor of producing Android devices, focusing on a security-enhanced distribution of the software. The following year, the company announced that it would also exit the hardware market to focus more on software and its enterprise middleware, and began to license the BlackBerry brand and its Android distribution to third-party OEMs such as
TCL for future devices. In September 2013, Microsoft announced its intent to acquire Nokia's mobile device business for $7.1 billion, as part of a strategy under CEO
Steve Ballmer for Microsoft to be a "devices and services" company. Despite the growth of Windows Phone and the
Lumia range (which accounted for nearly 90% of all Windows Phone devices sold), the platform never had significant market share in the key U.S. market, After Balmer was succeeded by
Satya Nadella (who has placed a larger focus on software and cloud computing) as CEO of Microsoft, it took a $7.6 billion
write-off on the Nokia assets in July 2015, and laid off nearly the entire
Microsoft Mobile unit in May 2016.
Camera advancements featured a
Leica Summicron camera system. features software-based tuning co-developed with
Hasselblad. The first commercial
camera phone was the
Kyocera Visual Phone VP-210, released in Japan in May 1999. It was called a "mobile videophone" at the time, and had a 110,000-
pixel front-facing camera. It could instantly transmit pictures via cell phone
telecommunication. By the mid-2000s, higher-end
cell phones commonly had integrated digital cameras. In 2003
camera phones outsold stand-alone digital cameras, and in 2006 they outsold film and digital stand-alone cameras. Five billion camera phones were sold in five years, and by 2007 more than half of the
installed base of all mobile phones were camera phones. Sales of separate cameras peaked in 2008. Many early smartphones did not have cameras at all, and earlier models that had them had low performance and insufficient image and video quality that could not compete with budget pocket cameras and fulfill user's needs. By the beginning of the 2010s almost all smartphones had an integrated digital camera. The decline in sales of stand-alone cameras accelerated due to the increasing use of smartphones with rapidly improving camera technology for casual photography, easier
image manipulation, and abilities to directly
share photos through the use of
apps and web-based services. By 2011, cell phones with integrated cameras were selling hundreds of millions per year. In 2015, digital camera sales were 35.395 million units or only less than a third of digital camera sales numbers at their peak and also slightly less than film camera sold number at their peak. Contributing to the rise in popularity of smartphones being used over dedicated cameras for photography, smaller pocket cameras have difficulty producing
bokeh in images, but nowadays, some smartphones have dual-lens cameras that reproduce the bokeh effect easily, and can even rearrange the level of bokeh after shooting. This works by capturing multiple images with different focus settings, then combining the background of the main image with a
macro focus shot. In 2007, the
Nokia N95 was notable as a smartphone that had a 5.0
Megapixel (MP) camera, when most others had cameras with around 3 MP or less than 2 MP. Some specialized feature phones like the
LG Viewty,
Samsung SGH-G800, and
Sony Ericsson K850i, all released later that year, also had 5.0 MP cameras. By 2010, 5.0 MP cameras were common; a few smartphones had 8.0 MP cameras and the
Nokia N8,
Sony Ericsson Satio, and
Samsung M8910 Pixon12 feature phone had 12 MP. The main camera of the 2009
Nokia N86 uniquely features a three-level
aperture lens. The Altek Leo, a 14-megapixel smartphone with 3x optical zoom lens and 720p HD video camera was released in late 2010. In 2011, the same year the
Nintendo 3DS was released, HTC unveiled the
Evo 3D, a
3D phone with a dual five-megapixel rear camera setup for spatial imaging, among the earliest
mobile phones with more than one rear camera. The 2012
Samsung Galaxy S3 introduced the ability to capture photos using
voice commands. In 2012, Nokia announced and released the
Nokia 808 PureView, featuring a 41-megapixel 1/1.2-inch sensor and a high-resolution f/2.4
Zeiss all-aspherical one-group lens. The high resolution enables four times of lossless
digital zoom at 1080p and six times at 720p resolution, using
image sensor cropping. The 2013
Nokia Lumia 1020 has a similar high-resolution camera setup, with the addition of
optical image stabilization and manual camera settings years before common among high-end mobile phones, although lacking
expandable storage that could be of use for accordingly high
file sizes. Mobile
optical image stabilization was first introduced by Nokia in 2012 with the
Lumia 920, and the earliest known smartphone with an optically stabilized front camera is the
HTC 10 from 2016. Optical image stabilization enables prolonged
exposure times for low-light photography and smoothing out handheld video shaking, since the appearance of shakes magnifies over a larger display such as a
monitor or
television set, which would be detrimental to the watching experience. Since 2012, smartphones have become increasingly able to capture photos while filming. The resolution of those photos resolution may vary between devices. Samsung has used the highest image sensor resolution at the video's aspect ratio, which at 16:9 is 6 Megapixels (3264 × 1836) on the
Galaxy S3 and 9.6 Megapixels (4128 × 2322) on the
Galaxy S4. The earliest iPhones with such functionality,
iPhone 5 and
5s, captured simultaneous photos at 0.9 Megapixels (1280 × 720) while filming. Starting in 2013 on the
Xperia Z1, Sony experimented with real-time
augmented reality camera effects such as floating text, virtual plants, volcano, and a dinosaur walking in the scenery. Apple later did similarly in 2017 with the
iPhone X. In the same year,
iOS 7 introduced the later widely implemented viewfinder intuition, where
exposure value can be adjusted through vertical swiping, after focus and exposure has been set by tapping, and even while locked after holding down for a brief moment. On some devices, this intuition may be restricted by software in video/slow motion modes and for front camera. In 2013, Samsung unveiled the
Galaxy S4 Zoom smartphone with the grip shape of a
compact camera and a 10×
optical zoom lens, as well as a rotary knob ring around the lens, as used on higher-end compact cameras, and an
ISO 1222 tripod mount. It is equipped with manual parameter settings, including for focus and exposure. The successor 2014
Samsung Galaxy K Zoom brought resolution and performance enhancements, but lacks the rotary knob and tripod mount to allow for a more smartphone-like shape with less protruding lens. The 2014
Panasonic Lumix DMC-CM1 was another attempt at mixing mobile phone with compact camera, so much so that it inherited the
Lumix brand. While lacking optical zoom, its image sensor has a
format of 1", as used in high-end compact cameras such as the
Lumix DMC-LX100 and
Sony CyberShot DSC-RX100 series, with multiple times the surface size of a typical mobile camera image sensor, as well as support for light sensitivities of up to ISO 25600, well beyond the typical mobile camera light sensitivity range. , no successor has been released. In 2013 and 2014, HTC experimentally traded in pixel count for pixel surface size on their
One M7 and
M8, both with only four megapixels, marketed as
UltraPixel, citing improved brightness and less noise in low light, though the more recent One M8 lacks
optical image stabilization. The One M8 additionally was one of the earliest smartphones to be equipped with a
dual camera setup. Its software allows generating visual spatial effects such as 3D panning, weather effects, and focus adjustment ("UFocus"), simulating the postphotographic selective focusing capability of images produced by a
light-field camera. HTC returned to a high-megapixel single-camera setup on the 2015
One M9. Meanwhile, in 2014, LG Mobile started experimenting with
time-of-flight camera functionality, where a rear
laser beam that measures distance accelerates autofocus.
Phase-detection autofocus was increasingly adapted throughout the mid-2010s, allowing for quicker and more accurate focusing than
contrast detection. In 2016,
Apple introduced the
iPhone 7 Plus, one of the phones to popularize a dual camera setup. The
iPhone 7 Plus included a main 12 MP camera along with a 12 MP telephoto camera. In early 2018
Huawei released a new flagship phone, the
Huawei P20 Pro, one of the first triple camera lens setups with
Leica optics. In late 2018,
Samsung released a new mid-range smartphone, the
Galaxy A9 (2018) with the world's first quad camera setup. The
Nokia 9 PureView was released in 2019 featuring a penta-lens camera system. 2019 saw the commercialization of high resolution sensors, which use
pixel binning to capture more light. 48 MP and 64 MP sensors developed by Sony and Samsung are commonly used by several manufacturers. 108 MP sensors were first implemented in late 2019 and early 2020.
Video resolution With stronger getting chipsets to handle computing workload demands at higher pixel rates, mobile video resolution and framerate has caught up with dedicated consumer-grade cameras over years. In 2009, the
Samsung Omnia HD became the first mobile phone with
720p HD video recording. In the same year, Apple brought video recording initially to the
iPhone 3GS, at 480p, whereas the 2007
original iPhone and 2008
iPhone 3G lacked video recording entirely. 720p was more widely adapted in 2010, on smartphones such as the original
Samsung Galaxy S,
Sony Ericsson Xperia X10,
iPhone 4, and
HTC Desire HD. The early 2010s brought a steep increase in mobile video resolution.
1080p mobile video recording was achieved in 2011 on the
Samsung Galaxy S2,
HTC Sensation, and
iPhone 4s. In 2012 and 2013, select devices with 720p filming at 60 frames per second were released: the
Asus PadFone 2 and
HTC One M7, unlike flagships of Samsung, Sony, and Apple. However, the 2013
Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom does support it. In 2013, the
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 introduced
2160p (4K) video recording at 30
frames per second, as well as 1080p doubled to 60
frames per second for smoothness. Other vendors adapted 2160p recording in 2014, including the
optically stabilized LG G3. Apple first implemented it in late 2015 on the
iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. The framerate at 2160p was widely doubled to 60 in 2017 and 2018, starting with the
iPhone 8,
Galaxy S9,
LG G7, and
OnePlus 6. Sufficient computing performance of chipsets and image sensor resolution and its reading speeds have enabled mobile
4320p (8K) filming in 2020, introduced with the
Samsung Galaxy S20 and
Redmi K30 Pro, though some upper resolution levels were foregone (skipped) throughout development, including
1440p (
2.5K),
2880p (5K), and
3240p (6K), except 1440p on Samsung Galaxy
front cameras. ;Mid-class Among mid-range smartphone series, the introduction of higher video resolutions was initially delayed by two to three years compared to flagship counterparts. 720p was widely adapted in 2012, including with the
Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini,
Sony Xperia go, and 1080p in 2013 on the
Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini and
HTC One mini. The proliferation of video resolutions beyond 1080p has been postponed by several years. The mid-class
Sony Xperia M5 supported 2160p filming in 2016, whereas Samsung's mid-class series such as the
Galaxy J and
A series were strictly limited to 1080p in resolution and 30 frames per second at any resolution for six years until around 2019, whether and how much for technical reasons is unclear. ;Setting A lower video resolution setting may be desirable to extend recording time by reducing space storage and power consumption. The camera software of some smartphones is equipped with separate controls for resolution,
frame rate, and
bit rate. An example of a smartphone with these controls is the
LG V10.
Slow motion video A distinction between different camera software is the method used to store high frame rate video footage, with more recent phones retaining both the image sensor's original output frame rate and audio, while earlier phones do not record audio and stretch the video so it can be played back slowly at default speed. While the stretched encoding method used on earlier phones enables slow motion playback on
video player software that lacks manual playback speed control, typically found on older devices, if the aim were to achieve a slow motion effect, the real-time method used by more recent phones offers greater versatility for video editing, where slowed down portions of the footage can be freely selected by the user, and exported into a separate video. A rudimentary video editing software for this purpose is usually pre-installed. The video can optionally be played back at normal (real-time) speed, acting as usual video. ;Development The earliest smartphone known to feature a slow motion mode is the 2009
Samsung i8000 Omnia II, which can record at QVGA (320×240) at 120 fps (
frames per second). Slow motion is not available on the
Galaxy S1,
Galaxy S2,
Galaxy Note 1, and
Galaxy S3 flagships. In early 2012, the
HTC One X allowed 768×432 pixel slow motion filming at an undocumented frame rate. The output footage has been measured as a third of real-time speed. In late 2012, the
Galaxy Note 2 brought back slow motion, with D1 (720 × 480) at 120 fps. In early 2013, the
Galaxy S4 and
HTC One M7 recorded at that frame rate with 800 × 450, followed by the
Note 3 and
iPhone 5s with 720p (1280 × 720) in late 2013, the latter of which retaines audio and original sensor frame rate, as with all later iPhones. In early 2014, the
Sony Xperia Z2 and
HTC One M8 adapted this resolution as well. In late 2014, the
iPhone 6 doubled the frame rate to 240 fps, and in late 2015, the
iPhone 6s added support for 1080p (1920 × 1080) at 120 frames per second. In early 2015, the
Galaxy S6 became the first Samsung mobile phone to retain the sensor framerate and audio, and in early 2016, the
Galaxy S7 became the first Samsung mobile phone with 240 fps recording, also at 720p. In early 2015, the
MT6795 chipset by
MediaTek promised 1080p@480 fps video recording. The project's status remains indefinite. Since early 2017, starting with the
Sony Xperia XZ, smartphones have been released with a slow motion mode that unsustainably records at framerates multiple times as high, by temporarily storing frames on the image sensor's internal burst memory. Such a recording lasts a few real-time seconds at most. In late 2017, the
iPhone 8 brought 1080p at 240 fps, as well as 2160p at 60 fps, followed by the Galaxy S9 in early 2018. In mid-2018, the
OnePlus 6 brought 720p at 480 fps, sustainable for one minute. In early 2021, the
OnePlus 9 Pro became the first phone with 2160p at 120 fps.
HDR video The first smartphones to record
HDR video were the early 2013
Sony Xperia Z and mid-2013
Xperia Z Ultra, followed by the early 2014
Galaxy S5, all at 1080p.
Audio recording Mobile phones with multiple
microphones usually allow video recording with
stereo audio for spaciality, with Samsung, Sony, and HTC initially implementing it in 2012 on their
Samsung Galaxy S3,
Sony Xperia S, and
HTC One X. Apple implemented stereo audio starting with the 2018
iPhone Xs family and
iPhone XR.
Front cameras Photo Emphasis is being put on the front camera since the mid-2010s, where front cameras have reached resolutions as high as typical rear cameras, such as the 2015
LG G4 (8 megapixels),
Sony Xperia C5 Ultra (13 megapixels), and 2016
Sony Xperia XA Ultra (16 megapixels, optically stabilized). The 2015
LG V10 brought a dual front camera system where the second has a wider angle for group photography. Samsung implemented a front-camera sweep panorama (
panorama selfie) feature since the
Galaxy Note 4 to extend the field of view.
Video In 2012, the
Galaxy S3 and
iPhone 5 brought
720p HD front video recording (at 30 fps). In early 2013, the
Samsung Galaxy S4,
HTC One M7 and
Sony Xperia Z brought 1080p Full HD at that framerate, and in late 2014, the
Galaxy Note 4 introduced 1440p video recording on the front camera. Apple adapted
1080p front camera video with the late 2016
iPhone 7. In 2019, smartphones started adapting
2160p 4K video recording on the front camera, six years after rear camera 2160p commenced with the
Galaxy Note 3.
Display advancements ; its display uses a tall aspect ratio and includes a "notch". In the early 2010s, larger smartphones with screen sizes of at least diagonal, dubbed "
phablets", began to achieve popularity, with the 2011
Samsung Galaxy Note series gaining notably wide adoption. In 2013, Huawei launched the
Huawei Mate series, sporting a HD (1280 x 720) IPS+ LCD display, which was considered to be quite large at the time. Some companies began to release smartphones in 2013 incorporating
flexible displays to create curved form factors, such as the
Samsung Galaxy Round and
LG G Flex. By 2014,
1440p displays began to appear on high-end smartphones. In 2015, Sony released the
Xperia Z5 Premium, featuring a
4K resolution display, although only images and videos could actually be rendered at that resolution (all other software was shown at 1080p). New trends for smartphone displays began to emerge in 2017, with both LG and Samsung releasing flagship smartphones (
LG G6 and
Galaxy S8), utilizing displays with taller
aspect ratios than the common
16:9 ratio, and a high screen-to-body ratio, also known as a "bezel-less design". These designs allow the display to have a larger diagonal measurement, but with a slimmer width than 16:9 displays with an equivalent screen size. Another trend popularized in 2017 were displays containing tab-like cut-outs at the top-centre—colloquially known as a "notch"—to contain the front-facing camera, and sometimes other sensors typically located along the top bezel of a device. These designs allow for "edge-to-edge" displays that take up nearly the entire height of the device, with little to no bezel along the top, and sometimes a minimal bottom bezel as well. This design characteristic appeared almost simultaneously on the Sharp Aquos S2 and the
Essential Phone, which featured small circular tabs for their cameras, followed just a month later by the
iPhone X, which used a wider tab to contain a camera and facial scanning system known as
Face ID. The 2016
LG V10 had a precursor to the concept, with a portion of the screen wrapped around the camera area in the top-left corner, and the resulting area marketed as a "second" display that could be used for various supplemental features. , featuring a "hole-punch" camera Other variations of the practice later emerged, such as a "
hole-punch" camera (such as those of the
Honor View 20, and Samsung's
Galaxy A8s and
Galaxy S10)—eschewing the tabbed "notch" for a circular or rounded-rectangular cut-out within the screen instead, while
Oppo released the first "all-screen" phones with no notches at all, including one with a mechanical front camera that pops up from the top of the device (
Find X), and a 2019 prototype for a front-facing camera that can be embedded and hidden below the display, using a special partially-translucent screen structure that allows light to reach the
image sensor below the panel. The first implementation was the
ZTE Axon 20 5G, with a 32 MP sensor manufactured by Visionox. Displays supporting
refresh rates higher than 60 Hz (such as 90 Hz or 120 Hz) also began to appear on smartphones in 2017; initially confined to "gaming" smartphones such as the
Razer Phone (2017) and
Asus ROG Phone (2018), they later became more common on flagship phones such as the
Pixel 4 (2019) and
Samsung Galaxy S21 series (2021). Higher refresh rates allow for smoother motion and lower input latency, but often at the cost of battery life. As such, the device may offer a means to disable high refresh rates, or be configured to automatically reduce the refresh rate when there is low on-screen motion.
Multi-tasking An early implementation of multiple simultaneous tasks on a smartphone display are the
picture-in-picture video playback mode ("pop-up play") and "live video list" with playing video thumbnails of the 2012
Samsung Galaxy S3, the former of which was later delivered to the 2011
Samsung Galaxy Note through a software update. Later that year, a
split-screen mode was implemented on the
Galaxy Note 2, later retrofitted on the Galaxy S3 through the "premium suite upgrade". The earliest implementation of
desktop and laptop-like windowing was on the 2013
Samsung Galaxy Note 3.
Foldable smartphones Smartphones utilizing
flexible displays were theorized as possible once manufacturing costs and production processes were feasible. In November 2018, the startup company Royole unveiled the first commercially available
foldable smartphone, the Royole FlexPai. Also that month, Samsung presented a prototype phone featuring an "Infinity Flex Display" at its developers conference, with a smaller, outer display on its "cover", and a larger, tablet-sized display when opened. Samsung stated that it also had to develop a new polymer material to coat the display as opposed to glass. Samsung officially announced the
Galaxy Fold, based on the previously demonstrated prototype, in February 2019 for an originally scheduled release in late-April. Due to various durability issues with the display and hinge systems encountered by early reviewers, the release of the Galaxy Fold was delayed to September to allow for design changes. In November 2019, Motorola unveiled a variation of the concept with its re-imagining of the
Razr, using a horizontally-folding display to create a
clamshell form factor inspired by its previous
feature phone range of the same name. Samsung would unveil a similar device known as the
Galaxy Z Flip the following February.
Other developments in the 2010s The first smartphone with a
fingerprint reader was the
Motorola Atrix 4G in 2011. In September 2013, the
iPhone 5S was unveiled as the first smartphone on a major U.S. carrier since the Atrix to feature this technology. Once again, the iPhone popularized this concept. One of the barriers of fingerprint reading amongst consumers was security concerns, however
Apple was able to address these concerns by encrypting this fingerprint data onto the A7 Processor located inside the phone as well as make sure this information could not be accessed by third-party applications and is not stored in iCloud or Apple servers In 2012, Samsung introduced the
Galaxy S3 (GT-i9300) with retrofittable
wireless charging, pop-up video playback,
4G-
LTE variant (GT-i9305)
quad-core processor. In 2013,
Fairphone launched its first
"socially ethical" smartphone at the
London Design Festival to address concerns regarding the sourcing of materials in the manufacturing followed by
Shiftphone in 2015. In late 2013, QSAlpha commenced production of a smartphone designed entirely around security, encryption and identity protection. In October 2013,
Motorola Mobility announced
Project Ara, a concept for a
modular smartphone platform that would allow users to customize and upgrade their phones with add-on modules that attached magnetically to a frame. Ara was retained by Google following its sale of Motorola Mobility to
Lenovo, but was shelved in 2016. That year, LG and Motorola both unveiled smartphones featuring a limited form of modularity for accessories; the
LG G5 allowed accessories to be installed via the removal of its battery compartment, while the
Moto Z utilizes accessories attached magnetically to the rear of the device. Microsoft, expanding upon the concept of Motorola's short-lived "Webtop", unveiled functionality for its
Windows 10 operating system for phones that allows supported devices to be
docked for use with a PC-styled
desktop environment. Samsung and LG used to be the
"last standing" manufacturers to offer flagship devices with user-replaceable batteries. But in 2015, Samsung succumbed to the
minimalism trend set by Apple, introducing the
Galaxy S6 without a user-replaceable battery. In addition, Samsung was criticised for pruning long-standing features such as
MHL, Micro
USB 3.0,
water resistance and
MicroSD card support, of which the latter two came back in 2016 with the
Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. , the global
median for smartphone ownership was 43%.
Statista forecast that 2.87 billion people would own smartphones in 2020. Within the same decade, rapid deployment of LTE cellular network and general availability of smartphones have increased popularity of the
streaming television services, and the corresponding
mobile TV apps. Major technologies that began to trend in 2016 included a focus on
virtual reality and
augmented reality experiences catered towards smartphones, the newly introduced
USB-C connector, and improving LTE technologies. In 2016, adjustable
screen resolution known from desktop operating systems was introduced to smartphones for power saving, whereas variable screen
refresh rates were popularized in 2020. In 2018, the first smartphones featuring fingerprint readers embedded within
OLED displays were announced, followed in 2019 by an implementation using an ultrasonic sensor on the
Samsung Galaxy S10. In 2019, the majority of smartphones released have more than one camera, are waterproof with IP67 and IP68 ratings, and unlock using facial recognition or fingerprint scanners. Designs first implemented by Apple have been replicated by other vendors several times. These include a sealed body that does not allow replacing the battery, a lack of the physical audio connector (since the iPhone 7 from 2016), a screen with a cut-out area at the top for the earphone and front-facing camera and sensors (colloquially known as "notch"; since the iPhone X from 2017), the exclusion of a charging wall adapter from the scope of delivery (since the iPhone 12 from 2020), and a camera user interface with circular and usually solid-colour shutter button and a camera mode selector using perpendicular text and separate camera modes for photo and video (since iOS 7 from 2013). ==Modern smartphones, 2020s==