These eight features of the new phone were the best and strangest of 2025

We’ve seen some Amazing phones In 2025, from iPhone 17 Pro Its vibrant orange colour Pixel 10 Pro Relying on artificial intelligence. Then there Galaxy S25 UltraOppo Find X9 Pro and Xiaomi 15 Ultrawhich everyone wants to be the only camera you carry with you.

Most of these phones have a lot in common, from their powerful processors to features like water resistance. But this year, we’ve seen phone makers raise the bar by adding a whole host of new tricks and accessories to help them stand out from the competition. A few of these additions caught our attention.

Here are our favorite phone features that are going mainstream in 2025. Will they stick around until 2026?

Massive silicon-carbon batteries

Batteries may seem like they are the same as they have always been, but in reality, Battery technology is constantly evolvingjust like any other part of your phone. The latest shift is toward silicon-carbon batteries that promise more energy-dense cells, providing longer battery life without having to carry a brick-sized phone around the house.

Oppo Find X9 Pro and OnePlus 15 Both have batteries with a capacity of more than 7,000 mAh, instead Vivo X300 Pro A 6,300 mAh cell is almost huge. For reference, the S25 Ultra – despite its massive 6.8-inch screen – only has a 5,000 mAh battery. The iPhone 17 Pro Max battery is similar at 5,088 mAh.

But don’t get too excited just yet about nearly doubling your phone’s battery life. While the latest Oppo and OnePlus phones performed very well in battery tests, the iPhone 17 Pro Max remained one of the best battery performers ever, and this is due to the efficiency that Apple was able to achieve through the production of all parts of the phone. However, silicon-carbon battery technology is definitely a step forward which will hopefully mean you’re less likely to find yourself out of power in the middle of your day.

Detachable telephoto lens

While I talk about the Oppo Find X9 Pro and Vivo X300 Pro phones, I must mention the amazing telephoto lenses that both companies offer with their devices. Both phones can be purchased with photography kit that includes a case and a massive metal telephoto lens that when installed looks like you’ve added a little chair leg to the back of your phone. These detachable telephoto lenses can take your zoom to a usable 40x magnification – that’s a focal length of about 920mm on a regular lens that far exceeds any of the actual zoom lenses I own for my professional cameras.

The result is that you can capture amazing close-ups from a long distance, making these lenses extremely fun for wildlife photography or street photography, where you don’t want to be noticed. Because the lenses use real optical elements, the image quality can be great, and the natural bokeh around your subject makes it possible to capture images that look like they were taken with a regular camera and a zoom lens.

Ultra-thin phones

Last March, my wonderful colleague Abrar Al-Hiti was surprised Through the large number of phones With very thin designs. Samsung had it S25 Edgewhile Tecno Spark Slim The concept promised a body measuring just 5.25 mm thick. We held off until the end of the year and since then we’ve been sticking with Apple for slim phones with access iPhone Air.

These phones promise a more refined aesthetic than their competitors, allowing you to fit them in your jeans pocket without causing an awkward bulge where you might not want it. But it’s on foldable phones that this thin design really makes an impact. both of them Oppo Find N5 and Honor Magic V5 They offer ultra-thin designs, which means that when you close the phone down – essentially doubling its thickness – you won’t be left with a cumbersome brick. Samsung has impressed with its superior stuff Galaxy Z Fold 7Also, it is only 4.2mm when unfolded.

Dust-resistant foldable phones

But while I applaud ultra-thin foldable phones, I have to give a shout out Pixel 10 Pro Fold. Google’s latest foldable device is the first of its kind to offer an IP68 rating that promises to keep water and dust out of the delicate hinge mechanism.

Previously, foldable devices offered, at best, some level of water resistance, with dust resistance limited to particles 1mm or larger – not very useful in a dusty area or if you’re taking a call during another round at the local flour mill. But Google has taken this further by keeping dust out, too. This means you can finally unfold your flip phone at the beach to read an e-book, confident that the sand won’t ruin your precious phone.

Sure, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold is a bit larger than the ultra-thin foldable devices above, but Google has traded sleekness for durability – and that could mean your phone lasts longer as a result.

Square image sensors

The latest iPhone 17 lineup included a front-facing camera overhaul with the introduction of a square image sensor. The idea is that you can hold your phone in a comfortable portrait position for your video call but the video will remain in landscape mode without using cropping which may reduce the quality. Or vice versa. No matter which way you hold your phone, the square sensor means you’ll always get full-width sensor accuracy.

And since you can take selfies (horizontal or vertical) when holding the phone in portrait orientation, you won’t get that weird camera angle that you might get when holding the phone in landscape mode. Everyone looks nice, matched and focused.

It’s a great idea, and it’s not just phones that are starting to take advantage of it. The state-of-the-art DJI Osmo Action 6 action camera also uses a square image sensor, allowing you to re-crop your footage into a portrait or landscape after the fact without any loss in quality. It’s perfect for creatives who want to shoot long-form and social content at the same time, and I fully expect this to become a trend in more phones and cameras in the future.

AI camera training

As a professional photographer, I was impressed with the camera quality of the Google Pixel 10 Pro I took him on a photo tour around Paris. But what if you are not a professional but still want to get good shots? Then the Pixel Camera Trainer might be for you.

Gemini uses AI to analyze the scene in front of you and then gives you a set of step-by-step instructions on how to take a better photo. Take a photo of your friend? Your Camera Coach may suggest switching to portrait mode, taking a few steps to the right and perhaps shooting from a lower angle for a more dramatic pose.

CNET’s Patrick Holland — himself a talented photographer — I used the tool He concluded, “I can see amateurs becoming passionate about photography after using Camera Coach. At a time when AI is becoming ubiquitous, it’s good to see Google using Gemini as an educational tool.”

Qi 2.2 for faster charging and magnetic accessories

Apple’s MagSafe has long been a prominent feature of the iPhone, but the company has contributed elements of its technology To the open Qi2.2 standardWhich means Android manufacturers will now be able to use it as well. Not only will this bring faster wireless charging speeds to more Android phones, but it will also open the door to shared accessories – Android phones that use Qi2.2 will be compatible with some Apple MagSafe accessories, and vice versa.

Google has jumped right on the bandwagon, equipping its latest Pixel 10 lineup with what it calls Pixel Snap. Ignore the label; It’s basically the same as MagSafe and works using the same Qi2.2 standard. Did you buy a nice new wireless charging dock for your Pixel 10? Great, your friends who own an iPhone can use it too, and if you switch allegiances later, you won’t need to buy a new stand. Beautiful things.