Wrapping up Waveform's 2026 smartphone awards, Brownlee explained why safe default phones like the Galaxy S26 never win a category. A co-host added that being the boring default is what every phone maker is aiming for, because it means you are selling the most.
No,
that would be terrible.
A-B test the video. I think that what happens is a lot of the best, most boring phones don't win any awards because they're already really good and they take no risks and they change nothing. They're not most improved. They're not the bust. They're not the phone of the year. They're not the design award. They're just boring. Like, oh, I just want an S26. All right, fine. That's a solid phone. Nothing boring. Like, next. Like, phones like that, like the iPhone 18. We don't have one yet, but the 18 Pro, hey, good phone. Design award? No. Best battery? No. Best specs? Best cameras? No. But like, pretty good at a lot of stuff. So it's not going to win awards for that.
The issue is, is like the goal of almost every major phone company is they want to eventually be the boring phone because that means they're selling so much that they can just continue to be a default. Yeah. And like boring probably means a ton of money. So like if you're doing all these crazy…
Yeah. Yeah. You got to take risks to get to the top. And then once you get to the top, you don't want to take any risk to lose your spot. And then someone else is going to take risks to get to the top. So play it with a lead. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, let us know in the comments how you feel. Of…
Do you guys want? They're both tech questions.
