It is that time of the year when we start doing the stories around the best flagship of the year or the best innovative phone of the year, highlighting the trends and innovations that manufacturers introduced during the year. However, we thought why not highlight the worst smartphones of 2018 or the duds of the year just to highlight that even the best ones can make mistakes, however, praying that no one takes inspiration from these ill-fated devices.

When you see a phone, the first reaction is to either admire the design or scratch your heard thinking how on earth this phone even got approved. So here is a quick list of phones that made all of us ponder what was going through the designing and development teams’ mind.

Sharp was way ahead of others in the race to create a perfect bezel-less device. The Sharp Aquos Crystal came in with zero bezels on three sides, back in the year 2014 while other brands had just started using more than 1.3-megapixel selfie camera. Yes, that's long back. However, all pioneers make mistakes, Nokia is the perfect example. Sharp also shocked us all by launching a phone with not one but two notches!! On the front, top there is a small notch housing the selfie camera while at the bottom there is a notch to make space for the front mounted fingerprint sensor.

Brands now are working towards removing the notch all together and then you have Sharp which has announced this phone with two of them. The Sharp Aquos R2 Crystal is a disaster in terms of design and makes us wonder what were they thinking when they approved this design.

Despite having access to the best of technology, best of audio and camera components, Sony has failed miserably when it comes to making decent Android phones. While almost all the brands are making drop-dead gorgeous looking phones, most of Sony’s phones are still coming out with a dated design and to make the matters worse they carry a hefty price tag.

The Xperia XZ2 Premium also carries the same tradition with thick bezels at the front, the odd dual rear camera placement, outrageous pricing and the contoured design at the back make the matters worse. Though the phone has flagship processor and other specifications, no rocket science is required to understand why Sony’s devices aren’t selling.

One of the most hyped smartphones of 2018 coming from the makers of Red cameras. The phone took a long time coming out in the market and when one of its variants did come out, it still wasn’t close to what was promised. Though the phone carries an industrial rugged design, which to be honest was liked by a few. The phone was supposed to have a semi-modular design where the add-on modules can be connected to the phone with the help of magnets. After almost close to a year of the announcement, none of these modules can be seen.

The phone was dead on arrival marred by regular delays, dated hardware, exorbitant pricing, outrageous design, and software that is still not ready. The premium version i.e. the Red Hydrogen One Titanium has already been delayed indefinitely. While most of us were actually looking forward to Red's smartphone, however, it looks like they have some serious homework to do before even planning the next iteration.

Launched almost at the fag end of the year, the Desire 12s comes from a company which isn’t doing really great in the market. Though it commendable that despite all of these problems, HTC is still pushing out new devices. However, that is still not a valid excuse to launch a poorly designed phone.

The HTC Desire 12s boasts mediocre specifications and some jazzy color options which look decent enough when compared to the price this phone is available at. The design on the back side of the phone looks inspired by the Google Pixel line of phones, however, it is the placement of the camera module along with the led flash that looks really out of place. At first glance itself, the design looks disturbing and is nothing but an eyesore or worst a nightmare for a person with OCD.

Like Nokia, Palm phones were also loved by geeks and fans alike. However, the brands' revival attempt with Palm 2018 is so bad that it shouldn’t have been made at all. The phone is so small that it can’t be even used as a secondary phone. Further, a poor camera, low-resolution display, slow processor and a poor idea behind the concept altogether.

The Palm (2018) is designed to be paired with your Android device or the iPhone and is meant to be used to limit your smartphone usage and disconnect from technology. But the idea itself is flawed and poorly executed. “The creators believe its small screen will put you off from wanting to use the Palm for long periods of time.” states Digital Trends.

No volume rocker, no headphone jack, no fingerprint sensor, no option to add a sim card, yet Palm is selling a cute little phone that is actually not a phone for a hefty price tag of $350. Do you need any more reasons to dislike Palm (2018)?

There were few other phones which were launched in 2018 and didn’t go very well on the parameter of a well-designed phone. The huge notch on the Pixel 3 XL was hated by a lot, Motorola’s attempt to blatantly copy the iPhone X with Moto P30 or Nokia’s last few budget devices which came with a huge chin along with a large notch which does not have any practical usage makes us wonder what is the thought process behind such a design