There are 1 billion smartphone owners around the globe, to be precise the figure is 1.4 billion. Nearly 1.8 million smartphones are sold on a daily basis. Last year was pretty amazing for smartphone lovers as we have seen tons of new smartphones but the best thing is smartphone manufacturer tried to not only follow the traditional design pattern but also the innovative design. We ended last year with spectacular Xiaomi Mi Mix 2, Honor Magic and many more.

We are already approaching the end of the first quarter of the year and almost every smartphone manufacturer unveiled their products for the first half of the year. Last year innovative smartphones success set the path for other manufacturers during 2017.

In the first half of the year number of smartphone manufacturer unveiled their best products but not all of them are truly innovative however the second half was full of new innovative devices. Without any further ado, let's kick off with the best innovative devices available in the market. Let’s have a look at all of them one by one.

For years we have been hearing rumors that the South Korean giant Samsung will be the first OEM in the market to announce foldable display phone. However recently a Chinese startup company Royole announced Flexpai as a first commercial phone with a foldable smartphone. As expected to be the first in the market it isn't amongst the most refined product but still, it is the first foldable phone available for pre-orders in the market with a release by the end of this year.

Those who are looking for a mainstream product will have to wait for Samsung's foldable phone which is expected to debut in Q2-2019. On the other hand, if you are looking for an innovative and one of its kind foldable smartphones you can pre-order the FlexPai. Apart from Samsung, we heard reports LG and Huawei are also working to announce foldable display phones in 2019. Most likely it will be the next big change in design next year that's why we rated the Royole FlexPai as the most innovative smartphone of this year.

The Flexpai is featuring a 7.8-inches display with Quad HD screen resolution of 1440 x 1920 pixels. The display aspect ratio is 4:3. Under the hood, it will be running on the Qualcomm's Snapdragon 855 chipset. The device will be available in China via flash sales. The base variant with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage can be purchased at 8,999 yuan. The top of the line model with 8GB RAM and 512GB storage is available at 12,999 yuan. For international buyers, the company is offering two developer edition models. The base model with 128GB storage costs $1,318 whereas the 256GB model can be purchased at $1,460.

Preorder Royole Flexpai developers edition

The second position in our best innovative smartphones is attained by the Oppo's Find X. This year Oppo announced new Find lineup phone after a long delay, it is quite special as it comes with one of the highest screen-to-body ratios in the market. It lacks any kind of notch at the top of the display instead it has a full front-facing display of 6.4-inches. The display screen-to-body ratio is 92.25%. It doesn't have any visible selfie camera or other sensors on the front which is a unique aspect of this phone.

Oppo introduced motorized pop-up camera setup which pops up when the camera app is accessed. The camera tray isn't visible it goes back inside the frame when the camera app is closed. The camera tray also appears when the phone is unlocked. Oppo referred their new camera system as "Stealth 3D". So far it is one of its kind design opted by Oppo to enhance the screen-to-body ratio. As far as durability is a concern the company claims the slider mechanism can last up to 300,000 slides. The Find X doesn't have a traditional fingerprint scanner instead it relies on the 3D facial recognition as a biometric feature.

It comes with dual-SIM and also supports global LTE bands. Another good thing is Find X is not only available in China but also it was announced for global buyers. Initially, it was announced in Spain, Netherlands, France, and Italy at a price tag of €999. For those who are looking for something special Oppo is also offering Lamborghini edition of Find X. The limited edition comes with a carbon fiber back with the Lamborghini logo at a price tag of €1699.

Grab Oppo Find X

This year was quite amazing for Chinese OEMs as most of the innovative products come from China. The third position is also attained by a Chinese manufacturer Vivo. Back in June Vivo unveiled two new smartphones under Nex lineup including Nex S(ultimate) and Nex A. As the name suggest the ultimate variant comes with better hardware whereas the Nex A is a budget-friendly option with toned down hardware and features.

Undoubtedly one of the key-selling aspects of Nex S is its stunning design with 91.24% screen-to-body ratio. Like the Oppo Find X, it also lacks visible front-facing camera but the company opted the different route to implement the front-facing camera. Thanks to 19.3:9 aspect ratio it features 6.59-inches AMOLED display. As far as the selfie snapper is a concern the company opted to elevate selfie camera setup which is placed on the top left corner.

Once you open camera app the front-facing camera will pop-up, it will go retracts back automatically when the app is closed. According to Vivo, the camera pops out in just 0.8 seconds which means you don't have to wait much for its opening. Another good thing about this device is its under-glass fingerprint scanner.

Grab Vivo Nex S

Honor's latest flagship Magic 2 is also an innovative phone. This year once again Honor try to incorporate something special to lure customers. Magic 2 is one of the few phones in the market which has a full front-facing display without visible cameras and other sensors on the front. The Honor Magic is featuring a 6.39-inches AMOLED display with a screen-to-body ratio of 91%. It is certainly one of the highest in the market. It also supports 108% DCI-P3 color gamut.

Apart from having full bezel-less display the Honor Magic 2 is one of its kind phones with six cameras on board. It comes with triple rear and front-facing sensors. As mentioned above it also slider mechanism for the selfie cameras whereas the rear sensors are aligned vertically on the top left corner. The Honor Magic 2 has Honor's own YOYO digital assistant to help you do tasks efficiently. The Honor Magic 2 has all ingredients to lure buyers who are looking for a slider camera phone with the best hardware.

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As a biometric feature, it comes with an under-glass fingerprint scanner. Last but not the least it comes with the 40W fast charging system. According to Honor the Magic 2 only requires 5 minutes to charge 3,500mAh battery. The entry-level Honor Magic with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage is available at 3799 Yuan ($550). The top-tier special edition comes with 8GB RAM and 512GB storage at a price tag of 5799 Yuan ($839).

Grab Magic 2

Last but not the least we have another Vivo phone in the list of most innovative phones announced this year. The X21 is quite special due to being the first phone in the market with an under-glass fingerprint scanner. This tech was so well appreciated that we have seen it on premium flagships as well. Later on Oppo, OnePlus and Huawei, Honor announced phones with under-glass fingerprint scanner but Vivo was certainly the first in the market to adopt the new tech.

Unlike other phones, the X21 comes with an ultra-thin notch at the top of the display. The notch has selfie snapper and earpiece. It sports a 6.28-inches display with an aspect ratio of 19:9. The display screen-to-body ratio is 90.3%. Another good thing about this device is its dedicated AIE artificial intelligence chip which caters tasks related to AI.

Both the front and rear cameras are AI tuned to enhance your capturing experience. To provide top-notch audio experience it comes with AK4376A audio chip. Being a mid-range phone the Vivo Nex wasn't packed with best-in hardware and cameras.

Grab Vivo X21

Conclusion:

Innovations don't stop at all and with each passing day customers’ expectations rise high and that’s why manufacturers are trying to bring innovations in their new lineup and as expected usually the innovations works and well appreciated by fans. There are many tech fans, who only want to purchase the new smartphone with some innovation in it. To help our readers make a choice between the best innovative devices of the year, we made a list of best innovative smartphones.

We are keen to know our reader's views as well, it would be interesting to know which smartphones they considered as the best innovative smartphones of this year.