Bigger batteries, better AI, and more: here’s what the TechRadar team wants to see from smartphones in 2026
SOURCE:TechRadar|BY: Jamie Richards
Here’s what our resident tech-heads are hoping for in the world of smartphones next year.
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Jacob Krol / Future)
How can it almost be 2026? It feels like just a moment ago that we celebrated the beginning of 2025, before welcoming the Samsung Galaxy S25 series, then the Google Pixel 10 lineup, and of course later the iPhone 17 models, and… well, here we are in December.
It’s been a huge year in the world of smartphones – we saw a renewed battle of the base models as the iPhone 17 and Pixel 10 each launched with hardware upgrades to rival the Galaxy S25, phone batteries got bigger than ever culminating in the iPad-beating OnePlus 15 (also the year's only 5-star phone review), and the folding phone market was rocked by super-thin handsets like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7.
It’s impossible to go through a year like this without wondering what’s next – so I’ve rounded up the TechRadar team to share their smartphone predictions for 2026.
You’ll find folks from the phones desk and beyond sharing their hopes and dreams for sustainability, 5G coverage, mobile AI, and more as we head into the new year. If you want a refresher on what the top tier of the industry is bringing to the table right now, check out our guide to the best phones – otherwise, let’s get right into it.
Even bigger batteries
"I hope this is the year that silicon-carbon cells go mainstream" (Image credit: Peter Hoffmann)
We saw bigger phone batteries than ever before in 2025. The OnePlus 15 takes the crown when it comes to widely available flagships, with a gargantuan 7,300mAh cell – that’s bigger than an iPad mini’s battery capacity. Elsewhere, the iPhone 17 series saw overdue battery capacity improvements, and the Honor Magic V5 snuck a 5,600mAh battery into the world's thinnest book-style folding phone.
I want to see this trend continue in 2026 – battery life is amongst the most important phone spec and makes a huge impact on user experience. Specifically, I hope this is the year that efficient, energy-dense silicon-carbon cells go mainstream – I’ve been using Oppo phones with SiC batteries for more than a year, and the difference really is night and day.
"I’d like the phones of 2026 to really work on maintaining strong, steady and efficient 5G connections" (Image credit: Frederik Lipfert, Unsplash)
As someone who can’t get fiber internet access at my apartment, I need to tap into 5G quite a bit to download things like games for my PS5 and Xbox Series X; given the ballooning size of modern games it can literally take days to download them. The problem is, I find 5G on my iPhone 16 Pro Max, and indeed some other phones in my experience, to be rather spotty and inconsistent when it comes to maintaining steady speeds and a robust connection.
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By itself this can be infuriating. Add in the significantly increased battery power draw and temperature spike using 5G for any length of time causes, and the speedy internet nirvana promised by 5G evaporates into nothingness.
So rather than boost the speed of chips, or ever so slightly improve camera processing, I’d like the phones of 2026 to really work on maintaining strong, steady and efficient 5G connections. That way I can finally enjoy the future tech luminaires touted for 5G since the beginning of my tech journalism career.
Make Apple Intelligence useful
"I’m hoping that Apple finally delivers its long-promised Siri 2.0 upgrade" (Image credit: Apple)
I’m a longtime iPhone user, and I feel like I still haven’t got a seat on the AI train that Android users have been riding for more than a year now. Siri Suggestions and automatic Voice Memo transcriptions are about the only AI-powered tools I use regularly on my iPhone 17 Pro, and while I’m not fussed about Clean Up-beating image editing tools like Generative Edit and Magic Eraser (don’t mess with reality!), I am jealous of the vastly superior voice assistants on the best Android phones.
Even with its ChatGPT integration, Siri is nigh-on unusable in 2025, so I’m hoping that Apple a) finally delivers its long-promised Siri 2.0 upgrade in 2026, and b) it can genuinely compete with Google’s phenomenal Gemini assistant. Apple can only distract us with eye-catching iPhone colors for so long.
I hope the AI bubble bursts
"There are no AI tools that make a phone worth buying" (Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
I hope the smartphone AI bubble bursts in 2026. I have never seen a worse development in technology than phone makers like Motorola, Samsung, and even Apple, shoehorning half-baked AI features into smartphones. Smartphone AI produces inaccurate results, resorts to harmful stereotypes, and adds little or no value to today's best phones.
Nobody chooses a phone because it has good AI tools, because there are no AI tools that make a phone worth buying. It's clear that AI features are a cynical ploy from an industry that seems to have run out of real, innovative ideas. Still, I hope 2026 is the year the industry finally comes to its human senses about machine learning.
Get serious about sustainability
"It’s time the big brands put their money where their mouth is" (Image credit: Future)
What I want most from phones in 2026 is a real focus on sustainability; more durable, more efficient, better materials.
There’s so much work to be done here, and it won’t happen overnight; so it’s time the big brands put their money where their mouth is and start to make significant changes.
Stop the AI bloat
"A lot of AI integrations feel more like gimmicks than valuable innovations" (Image credit: Shutterstock / Tada Images)
My smartphone hope for 2026, is that the major players pare back some of the AI bloat. I really don't need AI-generated playlists or notifications summaries. I'm not bothered about AI-generated backgrounds, and I'm generally growing tired of novelty features that I'll never realistically use.
For me and many others, a lot of these AI integrations feel more like gimmicks than valuable innovations. So, hopefully we can see more of a focus on a streamlined user experience, and less of an emphasis on the unnecessary.
Where is the iPhone Fold?
"With Samsung releasing the Galaxy Z Fold 7 this year, I can’t wait for the first round of this friendly competition" (Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
I think 2026 could be a very exciting year if Apple launches its first foldable phone. Throughout the long-standing rivalry between Apple and Samsung, each one has consistently pushed the other to innovate. With Samsung releasing the Galaxy Z Fold 7 this year (arguably its best foldable phone yet), I can’t wait for the first round of this friendly competition to begin.
We also know that Apple has one of the strongest marketing teams in the world. It proved this recently with the iPhone Air (check out our full review on YouTube): despite relatively modest sales performance, it became one of the loudest product launches of the past year, with tech influencers and publications driving massive viewership across related content. And this is exactly what we need for foldable phones!
For the second year in a row, Samsung’s foldable-focused Unpacked event has been the best event I attend yearly. It’s incredible to see how much these devices continue to improve, and honestly, I feel closer than ever to finally switching to a Flip. Don’t fold your expectations – let’s get excited!
An end to mobile dead zones
"The rise of satellite internet could soon help with rural dead zones" (Image credit: Apple)
It’s almost 2026 and my biggest smartphone frustration is the same as the one I had in 2016 – I still regularly find myself without any mobile signal. This happens when I’m both in central London and out in the countryside. To be fair, this is more of an infrastructure problem than a smartphone one. But before I get agentic AI, a 15x telephoto lens or a flashy UI redesign, I’d love to see this problem fixed.
Hope is on the horizon. Here in the UK, big network mergers like the one between Vodafone and Three are (in theory) promising to decrease the number of mobile ‘not spots’. Meanwhile, the rise of satellite internet from the likes of Starlink and O2 Satellite could soon help with rural dead zones. Will the problem be fixed in 2026? Not likely, but I’d take at least one bar of progress this year.
Faster USB speeds
"Moving to higher speeds is instrumental to Google’s plans" (Image credit: Shutterstock / mindea)
I want USB Type-C USB 2.0 to disappear from smartphones forever. That's a 25-year old technology still hampering mobile handsets with its miserable 80MB/s transfer speed. Moving to higher speeds is instrumental to Google’s plans to bring Android-on-desktop mainstream. Connecting to monitors and other peripherals (e.g. external storage) requires a fast interface, but at the moment it’s a bit of a minefield.
A quick glance at the spec sheet of some popular smartphones brings up quite a few culprits including some of the biggest brands out there. Removing USB 2.0 entirely from the picture would make sense to transform the smartphone (at least on Android) into a truly universal platform.
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Jamie is a Mobile Computing Staff Writer for TechRadar, responsible for covering phones and tablets. A lifelong tech-obsessive, Jamie began his writing career as a music blogger before studying journalism at Goldsmiths College, and joined TechRadar in 2024. He thinks the iPhone 5S is the greatest phone of all time, but is currently an Android user.
As well as reporting on the latest in mobile hardware, software, and industry developments, Jamie specialises in features and long-form pieces that dive into the latest phone and tablet trends. He can also be found writing for the site's Audio and Streaming sections from time to time, or behind the decks as a DJ at local venues around London.
