Best Upcoming Smartphones of May 2019 – Expected Specs & Features

We have seen quite a few decent smartphone launches in the month of April. The budget smartphones have dominated the market this time. In the coming month, the companies who are yet to launch their 2019 flagship will be coming up with their flagship smartphones. While most of these are global launches, a few companies have officially confirmed to bring the newly launched products to the Indian market in the month of May. Scroll down to get a glimpse at your favorite upcoming smartphone.

New Xiaomi Smartphone (Mi A3?)

Xiaomi already launched five new smartphones under the Redmi lineup in 2019. The Mi A2 is the last Mi branded smartphone to launch in India. Now, the company has officially confirmed to launch a new Mi smartphone in the month of May in India. While there is no official confirmation, we expect this to be the successor to last year’s Mi A2. Xiaomi India’s head Manu Kumar Jain also hinted this new Mi smartphone to come with the newly launched Snapdragon 700 series chipset. It will come powered by the all-new Qualcomm Snapdragon 730 Mobile Platform built on Samsung’s 8nm node.

Just like earlier launched A-series devices, the new Mi A3 should also be an Android One device running on stock Android OS instead of the in-house MIUI. As of now, there is not much information available about this device. While the Mi A2 missed out the 3.5mm headphone jack, we hope the company brings it back with the Mi A3 smartphone. The company is rumored to launch a pop-up camera smartphone in the Indian market. We have to wait for a few more days to get the exact launch date of the device.

OnePlus 7 & OnePlus 7 Pro

OnePlus has confirmed to launch the new OnePlus 7 series on May 14th in New York, London, and Bengaluru. Both the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro smartphones are confirmed to launch on that day. However, the company might also launch the OnePlus 7 Pro 5G in the US and European markets. All the three devices will be coming with a glass back body. The OnePlus 7 will look similar to the OnePlus 6T but comes with upgraded specifications. It will be equipped AMOLED display on the front with a waterdrop notch. On the rear, it sports 48MP + 5MP dual camera setup with f/1.7 aperture.

Coming to the OnePlus 7 Pro, it will come with a 6.7-inch notch-less AMOLED display with Quad HD+ (3120 x 1440 pixels) resolution and 90Hz refresh rate. It even sports triple camera set up on the rear featuring 48MP primary sensor (f/1.6), a 16MP ultra-wide-angle sensor, and an 8MP telephoto sensor. It will be backed by a 4000mAH battery and supports Warp Charge 30 fast charging technology. All the three devices will be powered by 7nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Mobile Platform. The devices run on the latest Oxygen OS 9.0 based on Android 9.0 Pie.

Honor 20 & Honor 20 Pro

Just like OnePlus, Honor is also coming multiple flagship smartphones this time. It is rumored to launch the Honor 20 and Honor 20 Pro smartphones. While the official launch event is scheduled for May 21st in London, the recently leaked press render revealed the quad camera setup on the rear of the Honor 20 Pro smartphone. We expect both the Honor 20 smartphones to come with the same design and similar hardware. While the Honor 20 might settle with triple camera setup on the rear, the Honor 20 Pro will offer Huawei P30 Pro-like quad camera setup.

As seen on the last year’s Honor View 20, the new Honor 20 smartphones will also sport the same 48MP Sony IMX586 sensor with RYYB filter on the rear. For selfies, the devices might come equipped with a 32MP front-facing camera. Under the hood, we will be looking at the 7nm Kirin 980 octa-core processor coupled with Mali-G76 GPU and dual NPU. This is the same chipset that also powers the Honor View 2 and Honor Magic 2 smartphones. The device will be running on the Android 9.0 Pie out of the box with the latest EMUI 9.0 skin on the top. According to the 3C listing, the Honor 20 will support 22.5W SuperChage technology.

ASUS Zenfone 6Z

Even before OnePlus and Honor, ASUS first announced to launch its flagship Zenfone 6 lineup in the month of May. The company will be unveiling the all-new Zenfone 6 smartphones on May 16th in Valencia, Spain. We have already seen quite a few leaks about the Zenfone 6Z smartphone. It comes with the model number ASUS_I01WD and was spotted on FCC and Bluetooth certification websites. The device is mentioned to come with Android 9.0 Pie out of the box and supports Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity. Just like its predecessor, the upcoming Zenfone 6Z will also offer Zen UI skin.

It is also spotted on a couple of benchmarking websites. The Zenfone 6Z even scored an impressive 363,172 on Antutu. The listing also revealed the device come powered by the 7nm Qualcomm Snapdragon Mobile Platform coupled with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. Looking at the current trend, we also expect them to launch the device in 8GB and 10GB RAM variants as well. The device might come with a punch-hole display offering Full HD+ (2340 x 1080 pixels) resolution. It is also rumored to come with 48MP triple camera setup on the rear and a 48MP selfie camera on the front.

Realme Flagship Phone

Almost a year after its debut, Realme is now set to make its debut in its home country. The RMX1851 and RMX1901 listed on the Chinese certification website TENAA. While the RMX1851 is the same Realme 3 Pro launched recently in India, the RMX1901 is an all-new device and might offers high-end specifications. The TENAA listing images revealed the device to come with a notch-less display offering complete bezel-less experience. For the rear, the device looks similar to the new OPPO Reno smartphones with the dual camera setup, logo, and tagline aligned to the center.

The missing rear-facing fingerprint scanner also confirms the presence of in-display fingerprint scanner. It will come with a 6.5-inch AMOLED display and might offer Full HD+ resolution. The RMX1901 will sport dual camera setup on the rear and a pop-up camera for selfies. The device will be backed by a relatively smaller 3,680mAh battery and might support 20W VOOC 3.0 flash charge technology. The Realme 3 offered flagship grade Sony IMX519 sensor on the rear as a primary camera and a 25MP selfie camera on the front.

Google Pixel 3a & Pixel 3a XL

Google recently listed the Pixel 3a smartphones on its official website. Both the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL will be officially unveiled on May 7th in the US (May 8th as per IST). We have been seeing leaks and hands-on images of these smartphones. While the Pixel 3a & Pixel 3a XL are earlier rumored to be launched as Google Pixel 3 Lite and Pixel 3 XL Lite, the Android Q Beta 1 update revealed these new names. While the Pixel 3a comes with a 5.6-inch display with Full HD+ (2220×1080 pixels) resolution, the Pixel 3a XL sports a bigger 6-inch display with the same Full HD+ (2160×1080 pixels) resolution.

Under the hood, the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL will come powered by Snapdragon 670 and Snapdragon 710 Mobile Platforms respectively. As seen on the flagship Pixel devices, the Pixel 3a devices also come with Active Edge squeeze feature. On the rear, both these mid-range Pixels will use the same 12.2MP camera offered with the flagship Pixel 3 smartphones. For selfies, there will be a single 8MP camera on the front. Both the devices will offer 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage. The Pixel 3a & Pixel 3a XL will also come with a 3.5mm audio jack and supports fast charging using the USB Type-C port.

Nubia Red Magic 3

Nubia’s latest Red Magic 3 gaming smartphone will compete with the newly launched Black Shark 2 smartphone from Xiaomi. The company is rumored to launch this new Red Magic smartphone in the Indian market by the end of May. It comes powered the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Mobile Platform and ha scored 437,524 on Antutu, highest Antutu score we have ever seen on a smartphone. Unlike the Black Shark 2, the Red Magic 3 comes with a 90Hz display and a built-in fan. The device can automatically switch between the 90Hz or 60Hz refresh rate depending on the intensity of the games being played.

The device offers up to 12GB of RAM and up to 256GB of internal storage. It is backed by a huge 5,000mAh battery along with 27W fast charging support. On the design, the Red Magic 3 looks very much similar to the previously launched Red Magic smartphones. It just sports a single 48MP Sony IMX586 on the rear and supports 8K recording and 1920 fps slo-mo videos. The Red Magic 3 will be running on the latest Android 9.0 Pie out of the box. While the Chinese variant comes with custom UI, the international variant offers close to stock UI. The built-in gaming mode 2.0 can further enhance the performance of the device while playing games.

Samsung Galaxy S10 5G

In February this year, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S10 5G smartphone alongside the Galaxy S10e, Galaxy S10, and Galaxy S10 Plus smartphones. As of now, the Galaxy S10 5G is only made available in South Korea. While Samsung has officially confirmed to launch it in May in the US, the leaks revealed the launch to happen on May 16th. The Galaxy S10 5G will be the first true 5G smartphone to be available for US customers. Currently, Verizon is offering 5G services for the Moto Z3 users who also purchased the 5G Moto Mod.

It sports a large 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED display with Quad HD+ resolution and is powered by 7nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Mobile Platform. The device offers 8GB of RAM and 256GB of non-expandable storage. While the Galaxy S10 5G and Galaxy S10 Plus share the same set of cameras, the 5G variant additionally sports ToF 3D sensor on the front and rear. It is also by a 4,500mAh battery and supports 25W fast charging. The Galaxy S10 5G features an in-display fingerprint scanner and also supports more secured 3D face unlock.

ZTE Axon 10 Pro 5G

ZTE will be officially launching its flagship Axon 10 Pro 5G smartphone on May 6th in China. However, the company has already showcased its upcoming flagship smartphone at the MWC 2019. It is now listed on Chinese e-commerce websites for pre-registration. The device comes with a 3D curved glass body and sports waterdrop notch display on the front. It will be coming with a 6.47-inch AMOLED display with Full HD+ (2340 x 1080 pixels) resolution and supports HDR10 playback. Just like other 5G smartphones, the Axon 10 Pro 5G also comes powered by the 7nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Mobile Platform.

It comes in three different storage variants – 6GB + 128GB, 8GB + 256GB, and 12GB + 256GB. The user can further expand the storage using the MicroSD card slot. In terms of optics, the Axon 10 Pro 5G sports 48MP + 20MP + 8MP triple camera setup on the rear and a single 20MP camera on the front for selfies. It is backed by a 4,000mAh non-removable battery and comes with wireless charging support. The Axon 10 Pro also sports stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos support. It runs on the latest Android 9.0 Pie out of the box with MiFavor 9.0 UI laid on top.

Nokia 8.1 Plus

Earlier this year, HMD Global launched the all-new Nokia X71 smartphone in Taiwan. The company is rumored to launch the same Nokia X71 in the global market as Nokia 8.1 Plus. We should be seeing the official announcement regarding this new device by the end of May. The company launched the Nokia 8 as a flagship smartphone in 2017. In 2018, it came up with the Nokia 8.1 as a mid-range smartphone. HMD Global seems to continue the Nokia 8 series with the mid-range specifications.

The Nokia X71 came with a 6.4-inch punch-hole display with Full HD+ resolution. However, it is powered by the older Snapdragon 660 Mobile Platform. Even the Nokia 7 Plus launched in the first half of 2018 also came with the same chipset. The new Nokia X71 sports triple camera setup on the rear featuring 48MP primary sensor with f/1.8 aperture, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle sensor, and a 5MP depth sensor. On the front, there is a 16MP front-facing camera for selfies.

Stay tuned on Phone Radar for the latest updates about all these upcoming smartphones including the specifications and launch date.