If you're willing to pay a lot of money, Sony might be an option. They have kept the micro SD card on their phones. There are rumours they'll start updating their phones longer with the VI series too but we'll have to wait and see.

It probably is if the rumour about them switching to a 19.5:9 resolution is true. It'll still be larger than the S24 and Pixel 8 because of the top and bottom bezel but height should decrease by a couple of mm.

Seems like an overclocked version of the 7+Gen 3, interesting they didn't release that chip with this one.

I definitely think Apple and Samsung can do a smaller premium phone if they want to as Apple makes the lion's share of profits in the industry and Samsung is the only other manufacturer that makes a significant amount of profit. Heck Samsung can probably do a smaller midrange phone as well. I do not think it makes sense for other manufacturers as they make 3% profit and targeting a very vocal but demanding minority isn't going to help them improve that.

Small phone users should also temper their expectation, I saw a lot of comments from people saying they didn't get the iPhone mini because they expected the Pro Max's specs in the mini form factor. They have to understand that the cameras on the biggest flagships occupy a lot of space and it isn't feasible to bring it to a smaller form factor. Increasing the thickness might help with the battery but that's about the only component that benefits with an increase in one dimension.

Is there a noticeable difference between the Titanium on the Ultra and the aluminium on the other models? I'm guessing it's the colours on the Ultra that stand out more.

GSMarena is saying South Korea gets the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 variant. If that's true, it's a safe indicator the Exynos is dogshit. Wouldn't be surprised if performance/watt is worse than the 865 since no Samsung fabbed SoC has beaten that one yet.

Edit: seems like South Korea are getting Exynos for the S24 and S24+. Looks like GSMarena are wrong. Hope it isn't a shit show like the 990 and 2200 but I don't expect much.

8+2 MP rubbish on a phone that's surely going to cost $600 or more at launch is honestly infuriating. This won't make sense in any market other than India.

Unfortunately both chips were fabbed by Samsung Foundry. Tensor is also fabbed by then which explains the overheating, poor efficiency and throttling. I really hope Samsung can catch up with TSMC with 3nm but would be wary of a Samsung fabbed SoC until they prove they've caught up. Qualcomm moved from Samsung to TSMC for the 8+ Gen 1 because Samsung weren't meeting their targets as they had low yield. The yield issue seems to be fixed according to some media outlets but doesn't seem like the fab itself has improved.

They were using the telephoto as a point of differentiation too. I'm not sure why they even bother with that awful 8 MP ultrawide since it's unusable. The images have no detail at all. Might as well just have one good camera instead of one useable and two unusable cameras.

I doubt they'll do it since it's not on the regular Pixel 8. I think that's a feature they'll keep for the higher end. Pixel Xa series already has a faster processor and better cameras compared to their competition in North America, Australia and Western Europe.

More telephoto cameras on midrange phones. It seems like they're returning on some Chinese flagship killers. Would be great if Samsung and Google followed suit. Would be especially nice if we got periscope lenses.

I'd like to see LTPO on more phones, seems like it's limited only to the highest end flagship now. Would be nice to save battery when the screen is not being touched.

Something I don't like on a lot of Chinese midrangers - those rubbish 1/4" 8 MP ultrawides, don't think it would cost much more to have a 12 MP ultrawide and the difference in quality would be big enough to justify using it. Samsung do it on the A2x and A3x too.

Counter argument: I get frustrated when people complain about the lack of SD card and headphone jack on every phone that doesn't have those. I get it some people really want those features but do they really expect manufacturers to add them after they've gone? Sony's the only manufacturer that changed course and they only did it because they're a niche brand with an audience that appreciates those features.

I feel it's foolish to expect someone like Google to suddenly change their mind because someone on the internet said they wouldn't buy their phones without those features. They've not had expendable storage on any Nexus or Pixel phone except for the Nexus One and the jack has been gone since the Pixel 2. I know the A series had it longer but it's been two generations since it's disappeared from there as well.

For whatever it's worth, I would like to have the headphone jack personally but it's not a dealbreaker if it's not there. Don't care about the SD card and wouldn't use it anyways since it's extremely slow compared to internal storage and I've had a bad experience when I've used it on previous phones when it got corrupted and I lost a significant amount of pictures. Didn't use it for apps because I knew it would result in slower load times so was really disappointed when it got corrupted. I'm not the only one who thinks this way, app developers hate the SD card too. Linus Sebastian also said that someone in the industry said it has gone away because of performance concerns.

Note: this isn't aimed at you, it's just a rant against the "no SD card, no 3.5 mm, no buy" crowd that always posts those comments whenever some phone doesn't have it.

It's 2mm shorter than the 5 IV.

I wouldn't say so. Not having the 8 Gen 1 is a massive positive in itself and the 8 Gen 2 is actually a good chip. They've also upgraded the primary sensor to match the 1 V. Lack of telephoto is a downer but they have made it a little shorter to compensate and they've managed to cram the same 5000 mAh battery as last year.