Thebiggest mobile showof the year offered plenty to see in 2019, fromfoldable phonesfiercely protected by their glass boxes, to5G-ready devicesand prototypes. A number of companies used the show to present their latest and greatest smartphone too.

We’ve compared the biggest smartphones to come out ofMWC 2019: the LG G8 ThinQ Q, Nokia 9 PureView, Samsung Galaxy S10, Sony Xperia 1 and Xiaomi Mi 9. Which is the one to watch?

All the devices being compared in this feature have a metal core with a glass front and rear, resulting in premium finishes across the board. Onlythe Xiaomi Mi 9misses out on waterproofing, whilethe LG G8 ThinQoffers the advantage of drop protection.

Designs vary across the five devices, as you would expect. TheSony Xperia 1andNokia 9 PureViewboth opt for a top bezel above the display (and below in the case of Nokia), while theXiaomiand LG have notched displays. The Mi 9’s notch is a smaller waterdrop notch compared to LGs but theSamsung’s Galaxy S10has no notch, with apunch hole camerainstead.

All models have USB Type-C for charging, but only the LG andSamsunghave a 3.5mm headphone jack. Triple rear cameras are present on the Galaxy S10, Xperia 1 and Mi 9, as well as one model of the LG G8 ThinQ (it comes in dual and triple variants). The Nokia has a penta-camera on the rear.

The Nokia, Samsung and Xiaomi all havein-display fingerprint sensors. The LG G8 has a rear fingerprint sensor and the Sony Xperia 1 has a side-mounted fingerprint sensor.

Which device stands out for its design?

All the devices have stand out design features that we like, but the Samsung Galaxy S10’s curved edges and full screen looks amazing.

All the devices being compared here have OLED display and they allsupport mobile HDRin some form or another, though specific standards vary depending on device.

The highest resolution is found in the Sony Xperia 1, which has a 4K display, while the lowest resolution is on the Xiaomi Mi 9, which opts for Full HD+. Nokia,LGand Samsung all stick with the now pretty standard Quad HD+ resolution.

All the handsets sit around the 6-inch mark, with theSonyand Xiaomi moving towards 6.5-inches, though it’s worth noting Samsung also offersthe Galaxy S10+, which has a 6.4-inch screen.

The Xperia 1 has the tallest aspect ratio at 21:9, while the others opt for around 19.5:9, apart from the Nokia 9 which has a more dated 18:9 screen.

Which device stands out for its display?

On paper, Sony’s Xperia 1 stands out in this section. It’s super tall 21:9 aspect ratio means films can be watched in their native format without any black bars. The 4K HDR OLED display is also the first of its kind on a smartphone.

The LG, Samsung, Sony and Xiaomi devices all havetriple rear camerasand while their sensor resolutions differ, their camera systems are all made up of an ultra-wide lens, a standard lens and a telephoto lens.

The Nokia 9 PureView takes a different approach with its penta rear camera. It has three monochrome sensors and two RGB sensors, as well as aTime of Flight sensorfor depth.

On the front, all have a single sensor, except the Nokia 9 PureView that has a dual camera. Samsung offers the Galaxy S10+ model though, which has a dual front camera too. LG has a ToF sensor on the front of its device.

All devices being compared here have various software features. LG’s ToF front sensor means users can unlock their device with their palm.Nokiacreates a 12-megapixel final image from at least 60-megapixels of information. Samsung has a Shot Suggestion feature to help you get the best composition. Sony has eye tracking auto-focus and Xiaomi uses a pixel combining method to offer the equivalent of 1.6µm pixels at 12-megapixels.

Which device stands out for its camera?

All the devices have interesting camera features, but the Nokia 9 PureView’s penta-camera is certainly one to watch. You canread more about the camera in our separate feature.

All the devices being compared here run Qualcomm’s latestSnapdragon 855 chipset, except for the Nokia 9 which runs last year’sSnapdragon 845- though there is a reason for that (read why here).

Samsung and Xiaomi both offer 8GB of RAM models, but Samsung has a 512GB storage option, while the other devices top out at 128GB. Only the Samsung, Sony and LG have microSD support for storage expansion.

Battery capacity is around the same on all the handsets, though the LG G8 ThinQ offers the largest. Fast charging is supported on all devices being compared here butwireless chargingis only available on the Samsung,Nokiaand Xiaomi handsets. It’s also worth mentioning Samsung supportsreverse chargingin a feature called PowerShare too.

Which device stands out for its hardware?

All five devices offer flagship hardware, but the Xiaomi Mi 9 stands out for it’s ability to offer the same hardware as the competition, at around half the price.

We do really likeSamsung’s PowerSharefeature however.

All the devices in this feature run on Android but it is only the Nokia that offers pure Android with no bloatware for a guaranteed Android experience thanks toAndroid One.

The other devices feature each respective company’s skin over the top. In some cases, this means some quite interesting software features.LGoffers in the air gesture control for example, while Sony offers split screen functionality that is very easy to access.

Samsungmeanwhile, has a huge reworking of Android but it’s a great experience too, whereas Xiaomi’s software is perhaps its downfall with the MIUI not adding much.

Which device stands out for its software?

LG’s G8 ThinQ stands out for its software. The company focused on software functionality over hardware for 2019 and the G8 ThinQ not only offers the ability to unlock it with your palm, but air motion gestures too for things like music playback control and timers. They could turn out to be a gimmick but it’s something different for sure.

Conclusion

The five main smartphones announced at Mobile World Congress have plenty in common. They pretty much all offer flagship hardware, coupled with fabulous, premium designs and great features.

Each device has its strengths and weaknesses on paper but we will be reviewing all the handsets in full over the coming weeks to let you know which is the device to buy overall.

For now you may read all of our initial reviews for our first impressions: