2016 is set to be yet another big year for smartphones. Mobile World Congress might have been and gone, but there's still plenty to get excited about this year, including lots of new flagships as well as some new versions of returning favourites.
I'll summarise what's coming when and whether it's worth getting excited about. We've gone with the flagship handsets here, as those generally attract the most attention before release, and we've also stuck to the big guns, too, rather than include niche or unusual designs that will probably never see the light of day.
This list will be updated regularly as we get more information about exciting releases, although we'll cover most of the handsets here in more depth in their own individual rumours articles - look out for the links below.
Ones to watch:
Samsung Galaxy Note 7 - August
The Samsung Galaxy Note is finally coming back to the UK. After Samsung bypassed us with the US-only Galaxy S5 , the Note 7 is back and better than ever according to the latest leaks, and we should find out more about the phone in just a few hours, as Samsung's set to unveil the Note 7 this afternoon.
Of course, you might be thinking, 'Hold on, what happened to the Note 6?' Well, it seems like Samsung's skipped the Note 6 to bring its Note range inline with its current crop of S7 handsets - which makes perfect sense when you think about it.
As for the Note 7's features, reports have said it will likely have an iris scanner in addition to a fingerprint reader on the front of the phone, as well as proper waterproof protection as well. We're also expecting it to have all the latest hardware, including a large 5.8in, 2,560x1,440 Super AMOLED display, up to 64GB of storage, and either a fast Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chip or its brand-new successor, the Snapdragon 821. Of course, Samsung may decide to put an Exynos chip in the UK model - much like it did with the S7 - but we'll know for sure very soon.
Moto E3 and Moto G4 Play - September
It's been over a year and a half since Motorola released its last 2nd Gen Moto E, and many of us (myself included) thought it might be the last Moto E we ever saw. Thankfully, new owner Lenovo has just announced that a successor, the Moto E3 is indeed alive and kicking, and will be with us by September this year.
With many of its specs now upgraded to 2nd Gen Moto G territory, this £99 smartphone looks to be a real budget belter. With a 5in, 1280x720 resolution display, an 8-megapixel rear camera and a quad-core processor, that's a pretty serious kind of specification for a phone under £100.
Even better, it's being joined by yet another member of the Moto G4 family, this time in the form of the Moto G4 Play. This phone will cost just £129, and has a slightly smaller battery and a quad-core rather than octa-core processor. Otherwise, you're still getting a large 5.5in Full HD display, a 13-megapixel rear camera and 16GB of storage. Again, that's impressive stuff for a phone that costs just £129. Even better, it will be arriving a few weeks earlier than the Moto E3 in mid-August
Surface Phone - March 2017 ?
Microsoft might have gutted its phone division at the end of May, but rumours about its long-anticipated Surface Phone seem stronger than ever. The latest news now seems to suggest that it will, in fact, see the light of day at some point, with a tentative launch window of March 2017 now doing the rounds online - just in time for the Surface Pro 5 launch.
According to TCC, who cite so-called reports without any accreditation, the Surface Phone is in development and is currently code-named Juggernaut Alpha - a better name for the phone than Surface, if you ask us. It's expected to run Windows 10 and be powered by one of Intel's latest Kaby Lake chipsets.
Three models are supposedly in development, with the cheapest offering 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, while the second allegedly has 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The third, most expensive model, meanwhile, is expected to be a kind of enterprise variant, with 8GB of RAM and a frankly ludicrous 512GB of storage.
With rumoured specs like these, the Surface Phone almost sounds more like a miniature tablet than a traditional smartphone, but maybe that's what Microsoft's aiming for after all - a proper, high-end Windows phone that brings all the power of the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book down into something you can truly fit in your pocket. If these rumours prove true, the Surface Phone could easily be the most exciting handset of 2017. There's little more to say at present except I'm, very excited about the idea of this handset.
This mock up is a pretty exciting idea of how it would look
Moto Z and Moto Z Force - September
Say goodbye to the Moto X and say hello to the Moto Z and Moto Z Force, Motorola's brand-new flagships for 2016. Launching worldwide this autumn, the Moto Z has the honour of being the world's thinnest smartphone, measuring an astounding 5.2mm thick, while the Moto Z Force is the long-awaited follow-up to Motorola's shatterproof wonderphone, the Moto X Force.
Both come with all the latest specs, including a Snapdragon 820 chip, 4GB of RAM, a 5.5in, 2,560x1,440 AMOLED display and either 32GB or 64GB of storage. The Moto Z Force, however, will have a larger battery (mAh capacities have yet to be confirmed) and a higher resolution camera, opting for a 21-megapixel sensor instead of the Moto Z's 13-megapixel snapper.
However, the specs aren't what make these phones special, as Motorola will be following in LG's footsteps by releasing a whole host of modular accessories for them. These snap onto the back of each phone using high-powered magnets to transform them into different devices - the JBL SoundBoost, for example, will add a huge set of speakers to the Moto Z family, while the Moto Insta-Share Projector will let you project videos up to 70in in size on nearby walls. There's also the Power Pack, which Motorola says will add another 22 hours of battery to each phone.
iPhone 7 - September
Apple will undoubtedly continue its usual tick-tock strategy of handset releases. 2014 gave us a the iPhone 6, 2015 brought the updated iPhone 6S and so 2016 will provide a whole new hardware design in the form of the iPhone 7. I'd be amazed if the new phone wasn't called that (although I suppose iPhone Air is a possibility) and it will certainly be launched in late September, as in previous years.
Not much is known about the new design yet, but some rumours are circulating. There's much talk of the phone getting rid of the headphone jack, using Lightning port and wireless headsets instead. This could, in turn, allow the phone to become slimmer still, although battery life could be a concern. There's also talk of a camera with multiple sensors to improve image quality and focus speeds.
^ As well the iPhone 7 there are rumours of an iPhone 6C, based on the iPhone 6 but with more colour
Blackberry Rome & Hamburg - September
Blackberry was, perhaps, a company that BlackBerry was a company that, perhaps, a lot of people had written off, with phones running its own OS no longer very popular. However, a shift in tactic saw the company switch to Android, with the rather good BlackBerry Priv. This year, the company looks set to double-down, releasing two handsets, the Hamburg and Rome. Given that the Priv was codenamed the Vienna, it seems likely that both of these phones will go through a name change before they're launched.
Details are thin on the ground at the moment, with only basic information available: we know that the Rome will have a keyboard, while the Hamburg will not. Apparently, the Rome will have specs very similar to that of the Priv, which had a Snapdragon 808 chip, 3GB of RAM and a 2,560x1,440 resolution screen. Apparently, it will cost around $500 when it's launched later in the year, with September rumoured.
