The Global Mobile awards, presented at Mobile World Congress every year, are the biggest industry-wide awards mobile has to offer, and the shortlist just came out in advance of the show. This year, Apple, Huawei, LG, and Samsung are up for top prizes.
Ziff Davis, PCMag's parent company, is a media sponsor of MWC, and I am on the judging panel for this year's Global Mobile Awards.
Of the multiple categories, consumers will be most interested in the device categories. The "best smartphone" and "disruptive device innovation" awards are nominated and selected by a panel of journalists and analysts, and this year, the iPhone X, Huawei Mate 10 Pro, LG V30, Samsung Galaxy S8, and Samsung Galaxy Note 8 are up for the honors.
LG V30 Review
The phones are selected by the panel based on their technical prowess and commercial success. One or the other isn't enough—you have to have a device that's both ground-breaking and successful in the market to win.
The "disruptive device innovation" award celebrates features that made a mark in mobile in 2017. Apple's ARKit and TrueDepth Camera are on the list, as is Google's Pixel Visual Core, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835, and Samsung's 18.5:9 displays.
"Best Overall Mobile Consumer Innovation" has some weird nominees, though: WeChat, which has been around for a while; the Nintendo Switch, which is excellent; and HQ Trivia, a noxious and poorly programmed fad. But that's just my opinion.
Paging through the list of other awards, there are some fun discussions in there. Personally, I like the "Smart City Award," and I'm looking forward to seeing how Barcelona, Bristol (?), Dubai, New York (trust me, not smart), Singapore and Yinchuan (??) duke it out.
Recommended by Our Editors
In 2017, the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge won the best smartphone award; in 2016, it was the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. It'll be interesting to see if any of the other players manage to loosen Samsung's grip this year.
Winners will be announced at 9:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday, Feb. 27.
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Review
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