The "Mobile Phone War" at the Beginning of the Year: A Fierce Competition Among Domestic, American, and South Korean Brands, a Big Scramble Between Flagship and Entry-Level Models, with High Energy Throughout

Just as I returned to work, I faintly smelled the gunpowder in the mobile phone circle. In two days, Samsung will hold the Galaxy Unpacked global press conference and unveil the flagship S26 series for the new year.

But this is just the first shot of this year's good start - there's more excitement to come.

At the beginning of March, Apple's spring press conference will bring the iPhone 17e and the new MacBook series as scheduled;

Looking overseas, Xiaomi's Leitz Phone has quietly appeared, and Honor's Robot Phone will also make its official debut at MWC.

Moreover, the vivo X300 Ultra and OPPO Find N6 are also getting closer...

It can be said that it's a fierce battle among domestic, South Korean, and American brands. How exciting!

So, in this dazzling wave of new mobile phones, which brands have made their debuts with new forms that break the convention, and which product innovations are worth our money?

Is Samsung's S26 privacy screen really useful?

In the just - passed 2025, Samsung didn't have an easy time. The DS department, which makes memory, actually "settled accounts clearly with its brother" and cut off the supply to the MX department, which makes mobile phones. This has postponed the press conference of this year's Galaxy S26 series until the end of February.

But good things come to those who wait. Judging from various leaks, Samsung has finally provided a long - awaited hardware update this time: an innovative technology in the field of privacy screens, rather than simply competing on parameters.

At the MWC in 2024, Samsung demonstrated a technology called Flex Magic Pixel. This technology was originally used in in - vehicle infotainment systems. When the viewing angle is too large, the selective light - emitting of pixels makes the screen appear black to the driver, avoiding excessive information from disturbing driving.

Now, Samsung has applied this technology to mobile phones. On the S26 series, the "active privacy screen" based on this technology can blacken the side view when you enter a password or view sensitive notifications by controlling the light - emitting angle of sub - pixels.

This idea of combining software and hardware is fundamentally different from the solution that relies solely on software to recognize and stop notifications. Samsung's solution has a wider range of applicable scenarios and is more elegant.

Once this technology is popularized, those privacy screens that seriously affect the visual experience can almost be completely eliminated.

However, limited by the exclusive hardware, this function will probably only be available on the Ultra version of the S26 series. Don't expect it on regular models for now, and even the Z Fold8 in the second half of the year will have to wait in line.

Looking at the core parameter list, in addition to the expected specially - tuned Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, there is also a long - lost old friend - Samsung's own Exynos SoC.

It is reported that on the South Korean version of the S26, Samsung will be the first to launch the Exynos 2600 processor based on the 2nm GAA process. The official even confidently claims that it is 39% faster than the chip used in the Z Flip7 in the previous generation. Judging from the currently leaked benchmark data, its performance even surpasses that of the special - edition Snapdragon chip on last year's S25.

After many years, the once - ridiculed Exynos chip finally has the strength to compete with Qualcomm head - on again. Coupled with the legendary Xclipse 960 GPU based on the AMD RDNA4 architecture, this chip has raised people's expectations.

However, due to the internal supply - chain game mentioned above, the entire S26 series still starts with 12GB of memory, and the overall price will probably increase by 500 to 700 yuan.

Samsung has also made a difficult trade - off in the details and appearance of this generation of the phone.

The good news is that the 45W slow charging that users have complained about for years has finally been improved. The S26 Ultra will support up to 60W super - fast charging for the first time, and the battery capacity will remain at a stable 5000 mAh.

The bad news is that the highly anticipated built - in magnetic charging function has regrettably been cancelled at the last moment. The reason is very helpless: the underlying magnetic components will seriously interfere with the writing accuracy of the S - Pen. Between embracing the new industry trend and defending the brand's moat, Samsung finally chose the latter, leaving only a bunch of official magnetic accessories as compensation.

The evolution of the appearance design is also full of such compromises and perseverance. The S26 series has fully adopted the design language of the Z Fold7, canceling the independent lens design and returning to the module style with an island in the middle.

Fortunately, Samsung still refuses to blindly follow the trend of the huge and prominent round - shaped lens modules on the market. This is one of the few flagship phones on the market where your index finger won't often touch the lens when you hold it - but the price is that the camera's hard parameters have hardly improved.

To make the feel of the whole phone more gentle, the R - corners of the S26 Ultra's body have been further rounded. This seemingly insignificant change has directly restricted the structure of the end of the S - Pen at the lower - left corner of the body. This stylus that has accompanied users for ten years will probably never be able to be inserted blindly after being flipped over.

Overall, the tone of the Samsung S26 series is still to make precise micro - adjustments on a mature mold. In today's era when screen resolution and brightness are being highly competitive, Samsung has abandoned the abstract parameter narrative and instead focused on the differential experience in the microscopic structure of the privacy screen. This small innovation that addresses real pain points may lead to a qualitative change in the future.

Is the cheapest iPhone coming again, priced at only 3,000 yuan?

Let's take a look at Apple's spring press conference. Different from the Android industry's strategy of launching a large number of models, Apple's flagship models are mainly launched in the autumn. The iPhone 17e to be released in a few days is positioned as an affordable model. This series can not only consume the component inventory from several generations ago but also is a forced response to the strategy of launching a large number of models.

According to current leaks, the core selling points of the iPhone 17e are very focused. It will probably be equipped with the same A19 chip (GPU downgraded version) as its big brother, the iPhone 17, and will support up to 25W MagSafe magnetic charging for the first time.

In addition, just like the previous - generation iPhone 16e used the C1 baseband, the iPhone 17e is also Apple's "testing ground". The brand - new C1X cellular baseband chip and N1 wireless network chip will make their debut on this phone. Coupled with the possibility of adding an ultra - wideband chip to support the new AirTag, this budget - friendly iPhone is actually at the forefront in terms of underlying connectivity.

However, these improvements are in aspects that are not easily perceptible in daily use. If we focus on the screen and imaging, where the differences in experience are most obvious, the huge gap is still inevitable.

The single - camera shooting level is on par with the iPhone Air; the old - fashioned USB 2.0 interface shows that Apple has cut corners wherever possible.

As for what the front of the phone looks like, current leaks are divided into two camps:

Some say it will continue to use the notch, while others say the Dynamic Island will finally be available on this model. However, arguing about the form doesn't really matter because all clues point to a familiar and helpless reality: The iPhone 17e will still use a 60Hz screen.

It is reported that the iPhone 17e will be priced at $599 (the starting price in China is expected to be 4,499 yuan, and it may be 3,999 yuan after national subsidies), and the storage capacity is expected to start from 256GB. It can be said that it offers more value without increasing the price.

However, at the beginning of 2026, this price is definitely not suitable for a first - launch rush. The iPhone 17 with dual cameras, high - refresh rate, and Dynamic Island, and the ultra - thin iPhone Air may only cost about 1,000 yuan more than the iPhone 17e after various channel subsidies. Surrounded by its "big brothers", the ecological niche of the iPhone 17e is in jeopardy.

We once described the previous - generation 16e as a "sauce - flavored" phone, which gets better over time. The same is true for the iPhone 17e. It's worth buying only after the price drops further.

Domestic brands have no comfort zone and will continue to compete fiercely this year

Compared with the staggered competition between Apple and Samsung overseas, the atmosphere in the domestic market is much more intense. Xiaomi, Honor, Vivo, and OPPO all have new ideas and actions in the next one to two months.

At the CES 2026 at the beginning of this year, Honor was the first to present its "gimbal phone", the Robot Phone. This phone has a hollowed - out imaging module on the back, and a gimbal camera that can be stored inside is designed. It cleverly combines the two popular forms of the DJI Pocket and the mobile phone in the past two years.

According to reliable information, the Honor Robot Phone will make its official debut at the MWC in March. For specific information, you can refer to ifanr's report from the CES 2026 site: Honor Robot Gimbal Phone May Be Launched After March | CES 2026

By the way, let's talk about gimbal vlog cameras. In addition to Honor, reports indicate that Huawei and Xiaomi are also paying attention to this field; Vivo and OPPO have successively exposed their product plans to compete with the DJI Pocket;

Vivo's competing product will be unveiled within 2026, and it is rumored that OPPO's version is personally led by Liu Zuohu, the chief product officer and senior vice - president. The product will also appear in front of us within this year.

Before the Spring Festival, Insta360 also publicly announced its gimbal vlog camera product; the DJI Pocket 4 is also on the verge of release...

Can the DJI Pocket maintain its dominance for long with Vivo and Insta360 targeting it?

Whether the Pocket market can succeed depends entirely on the performance of these early - bird players this year. Once the market logic is verified, the waiting giants are sure to flock in. By then, the market that DJI has dominated for several years may quickly turn into a fierce battlefield.

Let's get back to mobile phones.

The Xiaomi 17 Ultra by Leica, which was unveiled at the end of last year, has recently quietly changed its appearance overseas. According to leaks, a special Xiaomi 17 Ultra by Leica has appeared in Xiaomi stores overseas. The horizontally - placed "Coke logo" on the domestic version has been changed to a vertical placement. The photo watermark of this model shows "LEITZPHONE powered by Xiaomi".

The certification information from the Thai NBTC institution also confirms this news - the official name of this device is "Leica Leitzphone powered by Xiaomi".

The picture is from X user @Frankforphones

People familiar with the imaging circle may know that the Leitz Phone was once an exclusive series manufactured by Sharp. The appearance of this new phone means that Leica may be handing over this pure - bred brand to Xiaomi. If this model in overseas Xiaomi stores is officially launched in the market, Sharp's story with Leica may end after three generations.

In March, in addition to Apple, Honor, and Xiaomi, it has always been the fixed stage for Vivo and OPPO, and this year is no exception.

According to current information, two models from Vivo and OPPO will soon come to us - the OPPO Find N6 and the vivo X300 Ultra.

The OPPO Find N6 is a large - foldable phone that OPPO is about to launch. Combining the leaks from the blogger "Digital Chat Station" and the network access information, the hardware outline of the Find N6 is basically clear: it is equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, and there are two models, the regular version and the satellite communication version. The charging power remains at a steady 80W.