Smartphones that shook up the market in 2017

This year once again, smartphone manufacturers pushed the limits when it comes to processing power, cameras, audio quality and more. Here are five of the most outstanding handsets launched this year, in order of release.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8

After 2016's Galaxy Note 7 exploding battery fiasco, Samsung is back in business with the Galaxy Note 8, launched this summer, which doesn't seem to have any such technical issues. Its 6.3-inch Infinity display is ideal for having two windows open simultaneously. The smartphone has a dual main camera with 2x optical zoom, and optical image stabilization in both cameras. The stylus is a practical addition for making notes and annotating documents, as well as for taking screenshots or creating GIFs from videos.

Apple iPhone X

A major release of fall 2017, the iPhone X (or "iPhone 10") is Apple's first smartphone to come with a 5.8-inch edge-to-edge display. It also stands out from the firm's other handsets with onboard facial recognition technology (Face ID) and induction charging.

Google Pixel 2

Promising an optimized experience with Android Oreo (8.0), Google's Pixel 2 series above all hit hard with its camera. The smartphone comes top of the ranking of best smartphone cameras by reknowned camera-rating company DxOMark. The Pixel 2 takes first place with a score of 98/100, ahead of the iPhone X with 97/100.

Huawei Mate 10 Pro

Huawei's latest flagship is the first smartphone to use the Kirin 970 processor, billed as the world's first to integrate a Neural Processing Unit (NPU), bringing artificial intelligence to the handset for various uses. The smartphone also continues the collaboration between Huawei and Leica, with a dual main camera featuring 20- and 12-megapixel cameras, each offering wide apertures to f/1.6. 

OnePlus 5T

Launched in November, this smartphone is essentially a larger and slightly boosted version of the OnePlus 5, released earlier in 2017. Although loaded with the latest top-end technology, it's much more competitively priced than flagships from market leaders Apple, Samsung and Huawei. The OnePlus 5T has a six-inch edge-to-edge AMOLED screen with an 18:9 aspect ratio, and automatically adapts to suit the surrounding lighting conditions. The powerful OnePlus 5T comes with up to 8GB of RAM and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor. The smartphone can be unlocked using the onboard fingerprint reader or by facial recognition.