Tech tops and flops of 2020: What the NextPit Community thinks
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Who do you think were the big winners and losers in tech of 2020? Just before the end of 2020, we made a humble attempt to find out what the NextPit Community thought were the brands that made a mark this year. It's time to share the results of that small survey!
A few weeks ago, in a poll shared across the NextPit community that spans several languages and editions, we asked you to choose the best and worst smartphones and tech news this year. Let's find which brand or product made the biggest impression on you, our reader.
- Also read: What NextPit expects from tech in 2021
But before I begin, I would like to sincerely thank you all for participating so actively in the survey. Among all the editions of NextPit in the world (Germany, US/UK, Spain, Italy, Brazil), the French Community is not the biggest but surely the most active and lively. I really enjoyed exchanging and debating, even getting angry, with you this year.
The best smartphones of 2020 according to the NextPit Community
Without beating around the bush, let us reveal that the majority of you chose the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 as the best smartphone of 2020, with this flagship-grade product from Samsung garnering 21% of the 250 votes cast. What was even more reassuring was the fact that your choice agreed with our choice!
As outlined in our review, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 was my favourite smartphone of the year. It's the one that restored my faith in flagships. And just like the case is for most of the people reading this article, it remains my dream phone simply because of the fact that I won't be able to afford one!
Sharing the podium with the Samsung is, well, a rather surprise entrant. The smartphone that received a staggering 17% of the vote was the Huawei Mate 40 Pro. The latest flagship from the Chinese smartphone major seems to be a hot favourite among NextPit community members even though it lacks Google Services.
In third place is Google's Pixel 5, which was voted the third-best smartphone of 2020 by 15% of NextPit community voters. What's interesting is that it's not the excellent photo performance that seems to have made the difference in your eyes. According to several comments I've read, it's the compact format that particularly appealed to you.
Now that we have our three winners on the podium, it's also interesting to see what the rest of the results say.
Unsurprisingly, the rest of the results are pretty close, and you can see them all in full in the graphic below. Keep in mind that out of the 40 or so smartphones listed in the initial survey, I only selected those that received at least 10% of the votes. Also, don't be alarmed by the fact that the sum of all percentages doesn't add up to 100%, since multiple responses were allowed.
The worst smartphones of 2020 according to the NextPit Community
As for the worst smartphones of 2020 according to our community, I found the choice rather strange. Of course, I'm aware that NextPit, formerly AndroidPit, was a website dedicated purely to Android users. For the same reason, it was pretty common for us to come across folks who did not particularly like Apple. But then I really didn't expect to find three iPhones in the list of worst smartphones!
Anyway, as per NextPit community, the worst smartphone of 2020 is the iPhone SE 2020 with 26% of the 250 votes cast, and the German NextPit community agrees with you on this point with the same phone managing to garner 27% of the 340 votes cast.
I can understand the choice of the iPhone SE for its "outdated" design. However, I can't explain the presence of the iPhone 12 in second place (22%), tied with the LG Wing, and even less, the iPhone 12 Mini (20%).
In the comments posted below the initial survey, one user points out; "As an iPhone and Android user, I'm very disappointed with the iPhone 12 in all its versions except the iPhone12 Mini which I find necessary". He goes on to add that there are no major innovations on the iPhone 12 Pro and Ma models.
He also deplores the fact that iPhones still have the massive notch and that the battery life isn't great either. He also laments Apple's decision to not opt for a high refresh rate screen because they had to make a choice between pathetic battery life and 5G support and they opted to go with the latter.
I will be the first to concede and even defend the argument that Apple smartphones are clearly not competitive in terms of value for money from a hardware point of view. There is no debate about that.
But seriously, the iPhone 12 Mini is still 100 times more relevant than an LG Wing. And there's no denying that the basic iPhone 12 remains a good smartphone in the absolute sense. Of course, it is expensive, like all iPhones. But it is by no means a bad smartphone.
On this point, I find this ranking of the worst smartphones slightly confusing. If you take the price/performance ratio as a criterion, the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 would have fully deserved the title of the worst smartphone of the year in my opinion.
Once again, you can see the full results in the graph below, built in the same way as explained above.
The most important tech news/trends of 2020 according to the NextPit Community
For the last part of the survey I concocted for you several weeks ago, I also asked you to name the most important news or trends for the tech industry. Unlike smartphones, the idea here wasn't really to name the most positive and negative news of the past year.
Rather, the goal was to decide which news stories or major dynamics have generated the most debate and had the most impact on the tech industry, in your opinion. That's why there was only one poll, and that's probably the topic where your detailed opinion in the comments was the most interesting to read.
But let's start with stats since we LOVE them numbers at NextPit, don't we?
At the outset, let me make it clear that the NextPit community seems to have a particular dislike for all the big tech companies. Which is why we see that the first, second and third places for the most important tech news/trends for 2020 concerns the GAFAs (Google Amazon, Facebook, Apple). At the top of the ranking is the accountability of the tech giants in the face of misinformation and fake news.
It's a subject that always provokes a lively debate when it's covered in an article. I've often argued with some of you about the role of the media in the fight against fake news. And the monopolization of the issue by social networks such as Twitter or Facebook, increasingly taking on the role of the editor without taking responsibility, hidden behind their hosting status, is certainly one of the most discussed topics on our site.
In the second position, our readers selected the news about top executives from Apple, Google and Facebook being grilled by the US Congress to question their anti-competitive and monopolistic practices. It received 30% of the votes. Personally, I think that seeing these multimillionaires like Jeff Bezos or Zuckerberg squirming in their chairs, all embarrassed, in front of American representatives satisfied more than one of you.
But it is the hope of seeing a real reversal of the balance of power between governments and these mega-corporations that has left its mark on you. David's fight against Goliath, which is also in third place in this ranking: the Apple vs Epic Games conflict. Here again, the questioning of what is perceived as an abuse of a dominant position, alias the high commissions charged by Cupertino on its App Store, fascinated you.
Finally, a last trend, which was not suggested in the initial survey, but which I saw a lot of in the comments, is the development of the mid-range smartphone market.
As one reader pointed out, "the overall quality of mid-range smartphones (around €300) is the most pleasing new feature of the year," a comment shared by another member of the community who said that "[mid-range smartphones] are getting better every year. The difference with the high-end is shrinking and sometimes it's just the tiny details."
He continued: "In addition there has been a global brand strategy to promote this range, whether it's Apple with the iPhone SE, Google with the new Pixel range or OnePlus with the Nord and I think that's a good thing. In the high-end, the innovations are pretty minimal and don't justify the price difference."
What do you think of these votes? Do your personal 2020 tech tops and flops match those of the majority of NextPit readers? Which choices do you find unjustified? Which smartphones or news items do you think would have deserved the title of top or flop? Let us know in the comments!
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