January went past in a jiffy, it seems, particularly in the world of smartphones. The first month of 2024 was packed to the gills with some of the biggest launches from Samsung Galaxy S24 series with Galaxy AI to OnePlus 12 and Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 series. Realme ended the spree in style with its new Realme 12 Pro series 5G.
January might be over, but, smartphone brands want to prove it to you that, it was only but a teaser trailer, and so, the coming month— February— promises more high-octane action.
The stakes are so high that some brands, like Honor, are going so far as to trend “RIP tempered glass” on social media to market their upcoming phones, in this case, the Honor X9b while others, like iQOO are promising to leave competition red with envy, with the iQOO Neo 9 Pro. The Mobile World Congress (MWC) is set to be lit up with Xiaomi —finally— making its Xiaomi 14 series global and Nothing bringing a Google Pixel-A-type budget Phone 2a.
Here are the most highly anticipated smartphones to launch in February 2024 to get you started:
- Honor X9b: The Honor X9b, HTech’s second Honor-branded smartphone in India, is set to arrive on February 15. A bit late, as it was supposed to launch last year, but anyhow, like the Honor 90, the X9b also seems to stand out from every other phone. Its key USP being its “ultra bounce display” that is apparently so strong and durable, you might not even need to apply a tempered glass on it, ever, or at least that is what its product marketing team would have you believe. Elsewhere, the phone will have a 108-megapixel primary camera, a 5,800mAh battery, and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 inside.
- iQOO Neo 9 Pro: The iQOO 12 is already giving the OnePlus 12 a run for money and with the iQOO Neo 9 Pro, that is launching in India on February 22, iQOO has its eyes set on beating the OnePlus 12R to the punch. And it just might. The Neo 9 Pro will bring the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor to a more accessible price point while bringing other niceties such as a 144Hz screen and stylish dual-tone design. We can’t wait for this one.
- Xiaomi 14, Xiaomi 14 Ultra: Xiaomi will take this year’s MWC trade show to launch its Xiaomi 14 series in global markets. The Xiaomi14 and Xiaomi 14 Pro will be the usual suspects but Xiaomi is also expected to launch, or at least showcase, the unannounced Xiaomi 14 Ultra during the same event. Xiaomi ultra phones have a history of being China-exclusive and so, something similar would be expected from the upcoming 14 Ultra as well. As for the India market, we’re hearing that Xiaomi may not launch the 14 Pro (like the 13 Pro) but instead, bring the Xiaomi 14 to the country. That would make sense since Xiaomi has never really been confident with its pro models despite their stupendously powerful camera hardware which is why the 13 Pro and 12 Pro were launched in limited quantities. The last non-pro Xiaomi flagship to launch in India was the Mi 10. Since Xiaomi has already started teasing its Leica partnership again, we can expect more details to follow anytime now.
- Nothing Phone 2a: The Nothing Phone 2a is all but rumour at this point in time but Carl Pei has confirmed that Nothing will soon launch a new smartphone, possibly at MWC 2024. Renders doing the rounds of the Internet hint toward a redesigned chassis while other set of leaks tip an under Euros 400 price tag for a Nothing Phone 2a version with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Going by leaks, the Phone 2a could stand as the new entry-point for customers wanting to get onboard the Nothing brandwagon in which case, a 120Hz AMOLED display, MediaTek Dimensity 7200 processor, and 50-megapixel main camera —which have all been reported for it— paired with Nothing’s unique design seem like an interesting proposition.
- Vivo V30 series: Vivo is gearing to launch its V29 series follow-up Vivo V30 series in global markets soon. The product listing page is live on Vivo’s website for the Philippines hinting at a curved screen design with a hole punch cutout. Vivo has debuted the V30 series with the Vivo V30 Lite in China back in December but the V30 and V30 Pro are the smartphones to watch out for in terms of global availability, India included.
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