We're halfway through January, the start of a New Year, and there is already so much to look forward to in the months ahead when it comes to smartphones. Tablets maybe not so much, but smartphones! First off, we're seeing the reduction (or downright removal) of the notch, which is already fantastic. But then there's brand new technology and brand new form factors coming down the line.

2019 has the potential to be one of the most exciting years in the smartphone market in a long while.

If you ignore the fact that AT&T is misleading some of its customers with a "5G E" label, the company does have a mobile 5G network out there in the world. Big blue started rolling it out before the end of 2018, and the other major wireless carriers are going to start going all-in with 5G here soon enough.

5G is going to be pretty huge this year, even if it's all just an initial rollout and some markets won't be seeing the benefits right away. When 5G does arrive for the majority, we'll get a faster and more stable network than what we have with 4G LTE. It's pretty exciting! Waiting is the hardest part, as they say.

But then the faster network really isn't worth anything if there isn't any hardware to access it, and that's where the new smartphones come in. Just recently we heard that Samsung is basically swinging for the fences with a juggernaut handset called the Galaxy S10 X. This device will have up to 1TB of built-in storage, 10GB of RAM, an in-display fingerprint reader, and a lot more. Including 5G support. Some folks might have been hesitant about hopping on the 5G bandwagon so soon, but with a handset like that it might be hard to resist.

And while we've been watching as bezels shrink and our smartphones become even bigger slabs of glass, this year is going to see the rise of the foldable phone. Samsung is looking to make a big splash in that regard, too. The company showed off a prototype late last year and now, in short order, we'll see the phone the company wants to sell to the public. It will probably be ridiculously expensive, too, but that probably won't stop a lot of people from picking one up.

I'm sure there's more on the way, but those are the major bullet points. So, what are you most excited about this year? Is it the rollout of 5G? Or the arrival of foldable phones? Something else entirely? Let me know!