It’s barely April and already we have seen both LG and Samsung release their flagships smartphones of the year (excluding, if Samsung continue it, the Note line) with the LG G6 and the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Edge. However, are these going to be the best smartphones of 2017? At the moment, they kind of are simply because nothing else has been released yet. With this, there are going to be several, if not more, smartphones released by the biggest tech OEMs in the rest of 2017. With this, which ones are the ones to get excited about for 2017? Here are three potential candidates for smartphones to look forward to, based on rumours and the past models of previous years.

OnePlus 3 (or 4)

Rumour has it that the third generation of OnePlus’s flagship might skip being called ‘3’ but ‘4’ due to the fact the Chinese find the number three unlucky. However, that should not put you off the phone in anyway since OnePlus are the company for delivering flagship specs on mid range priced smartphones. The OnePlus 3/4 is expected to match the Samsung S8 specs at $200-$300 cheaper, with a simpler UI that is smooth and lag free. Now who can turn that down?

Google Pixel 2

It is true to say that some people have missed the fact that Google’s own smartphone range, the Nexus range, died out with its mid range price tag and has been replaced with themore expensive Pixel lineup. However, this is simply because Google wanted to compete directly with Apple, both in specs and price brackets. The Google Pixel, if you excuse the huge bezels at the top and bottom, had killer hardware (especially the camera) and the most beautiful-to-use Android Nougat software. However, the smartphone was, by no means, perfect, with the large bezels, a ack of expandable storage and neither water resistant.

For this reason, the Pixel 2 is definately a phone to look forward too. We can expect the bezels to be removed, just like LG and Samsung have done this year. As well as this, we can expect water resistant, better specs and the latest Android operating system on it too.

Apple iPhone 8 (or 10)

Rumour has it that, because the iPhone has been around for ten years, Apple might skip 8 and 9 and head straight for calling it the iPhone 10. Either way, this is probably the most exciting year for Apple fans in a long time.

With such a ten year celebration, Apple really wants to push the boundaries (and, in some way, have been forced too with the release of the S8 and G6). We can expect killer specs, a larger screen, removal of the bezels and an integrated fingerprint sensor into the screen. Whatever way you look at the Apple iPhone 8/10, it is going to be a phone that truly reinvents the smartphone market, just like every phone being released this year is seemingly doing.