Motorola straddles the line between midrange and flagship with the One Hyper-- a smartphone with a motorised pop-up front-facing camera, meaning the 6.5-inch display lacks any oversized bezels or notches.

Thanks to the pop-up camera, the 2340 x 1080 resolution display features a 90% screen-to-body ratio. The actual front-facing camera features a 32MP sensor, and accompanies a rear-facing dual-camera array consisting of a 64MP main sensor and a 8MP wide angle lens. Motorola also says users get an optional "quad pixel" mode able to merge every 4 pixels together for improved light capture, as well as other shot optimisation features.

MediaTek readies for the 5G era (and to take on the likes of Qualcomm) with the launch of the Dimensity 1000-- a high-end SoC featuring an integrated 5G modem, together with the latest in Arm CPU cores.

First announced back in May 2019 as simply the "5G SoC", the Dimensity 1000 represents a rebrand ushering "the 5th dimension" in mobile connectivity. It promises the fastest throughput yet, at 4.7Gbps downlink and 2.5Gbps uplink speeds over sub-6GHz networks, and supports standalone and non-standalone (SA/NSA) sub-6GHz networks, as well as multi-node support for every cellular connectivity generation from 2G to 5G. Wireless connectivity also includes Wifi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1+, with 1Gbps throughput in both downlink and uplink speeds.

One has to admit it was inevitable-- advances in foldable displays have lead Motorola to bring back the Razr flip-phone, if in the shape of a 2019 Android smartphone featuring 2004 stylings.

The flip-phone format of the 2019 Razr means the device neatly sidesteps the UI issues associated with foldable phones such as the Samsung Galaxy Fold. Essentially, the 2019 Razr is a 6.2-inch smartphone (if with a taller-than-usual OLED display) users can fold into something half the size. The display even folds flat, making it superior to the Galaxy Fold in that aspect. It also includes a small display on the front cover, allowing one to easily check notifications and the like, and yes, holding up on calls is as easy as snapping the device shut.

Samsung uses its 2019 developer concept to tease a foldable phone concept-- one using a flexible display to take on the flip phone, making a device users can fold in half.

“This brand-new form factor that we’re now exploring will not only easily fit in your pocket, but it also changes the way you use your phone,” head of framework R&D group Hyesoon Jeong says at the Samsung Developer Conference. He also says the concept sets to make foldable technology "more compact," as well as extend it to new form factors.

Google follows on weeks of leaks with the actual release of the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL-- an upgrade featuring tweaked designs and a rear-facing dual-camera setup enhanced with interesting software capabilities.

Both Pixel 4 and 4 XL share the same internals in the shape of a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset, 6GB RAM and 64 or 128GB of storage. The display is 5.7-inch in the regular Pixel 4 and 6.3-inch in the XL, and is based on a 90Hz flexible OLED panel capable of 100000:1 contrast, true black and HDR support. It also features what Google dubs "Motion Sense," a radar system able to detect motion and read hand gestures. For example, it can sense when the phone is about to be picked up and prepare face unlock, or automatically turn off the screen when put down.

The Microsoft Surface hardware event has something of a surprise offering-- the Surface Duo, a foldable dual-screen device running on Android the company insists is not, in fact, a phone.

The Surface Duo is just one foldable device from Microsoft, with the other being the Surface Neo, a tablet-size number running on an "expression" of Windows 10 dubbed Windows 10X. However the Surface Duo is arguably the more interesting of the two, what with it being smaller and featuring Android as OS, surprising considering it comes from the company behind, well, Windows.

Xiaomi claims a number of firsts with the Mi Mix Alpha-- a foldable smartphone featuring a "Surround Screen" with a 180.6% screen-to-body ratio, as well as a 108MP camera able to capture 12032 x 9024 resolution photos.

The Mi Mix Alpha builds on previous Xiaomi experiments in Full Screen Display smartphones, such as the first Mi Mix device. The foldable take on the concept promises construction in a "one-of-a-kind" combination of titanium alloy, ceramics and sapphire, and has the display make nearly the entirety of the front, side and back. The company says the display can withstand the stresses brought about by bending, while a durable protective layer brings further strength.

Sony skips a few generations at IFA 2019 as it announces the Xperia 5-- a followup to the flagship Xperia 1 featuring a display in the same 21:9 aspect ratio, if within a "relatively compact" body.

The Xperia 5 was teased to be small enough to fit "in the palm of your hand," and as such is smaller handset compared to other flagship smartphones. It features a 6.1-inch 2560 x 1080 resolution "CinemaWide" AMOLED display complete with HDR and the upscaling of standard dynamic range content, and includes Dolby Atmos support via stereo speakers.