Small phone lovers are passionate, but there aren’t enough of them to stop the phone industry from shipping increasingly large phones. Fortunately, 2026 is shaping up to be the year that lesser-known companies are supplying some of the smallest smartphones we’ve seen in years.

Sidephone

Let’s start with the small phone that is the most versatile and by far the most modular. The Sidephone is advertised as a premium dumbphone, not a smartphone, meaning it occupies a similar area of the market as the Light Phone 3. That said, it supplies a larger selection of apps, such as the Proton privacy suite (which contains vital apps, for me, like Proton Mail and Proton Pass), full-blown web browsers like Firefox and Vivaldi, Signal for instant messaging, Uber, and many more. The Sidephone may lack access to the Play Store, but it’s very much a smartphone, and it’s a good option for people looking to remove Google from their life.

What sets Sidephone apart is its available accessories. The Sidephone is a small slender device that you can pair with Clicks-style case with a keyboard, turning the phone into just your screen. But instead of the bottom half being a keyboard that’s fixed in place, you have a varied range of options. One is a numpad resembling a traditional dumbphone, and there’s also an unconventional keypad that assigns two letters and one number per key. The most intriguing, however, is one resembling a scroll wheel once found on iPod. The resemblance is merely aesthetic, for this mod instead provides a 8-directional D-Pad assortment of shortcuts that you can assign to perform different tasks.

If you want to fundamentally change the way it feels to pull a phone out of your pocket, the Sidephone is one of the most compelling phones you can buy this year.

Ikko: Mind One

In some ways, the Ikko: Mind One is remarkably similar to the Sidephone. Not only is this a tiny smartphone, but it also can slide into a keyboard case that turns the phone into a display. Unlike the Sidephone, this is a smartphone with full access to Google Play. It can run any Android app you might want, reducing the amount of compromises you’ll need to consider. If you’re interested in the Sidephone but have apps you need for work, the Ikko: Mind One might be as close as you can get.

The Ikko: Mind One lacks the Sidephone’s more creative cases, but it does come with a larger square-shaped display that allows the touchscreen to be more functional. Yet even with its bigger screen, this is not a phone you’d want for streaming video or doomscrolling vertical video feeds. Its square-shaped orientation means that even though there are many apps you can run, there are a bunch that you won’t want to. This gives the device appeal as a more intentional phone that introduces friction between you and mindless habits, which tends to be a perk for many who are tired of attempting various tricks to curb their unwanted screen usage.

The Ikko: Mind One also packs a single novel camera that is likely to be the most performant on this list. The 50MP camera on the back can be flipped to face the front, making this a better option for selfies and video calls. Is it a camera that’s going to outperform what you get from an iPhone or Google Pixel? No, but it’s decent in a way that can’t always be taken for granted when purchasing one of these niche phones.

AIPHOR Bluefox NX1

The Sidephone and Ikko: Mind One aren’t expensive by premium phone standards, but they still cost hundreds of dollars. If you want a budget option that will allow you to dabbled while taking on less financial risk, you may want to consider the Bluefox NX1. At $136 for the 64GB model with 4GB of RAM and $176 for 128GB of storage and 8GB of RAM, neither option is punishing to the wallet. At the same time, as these specs suggest, you’re not getting a powerful phone. Then again, that’s not the point.

Compared to the other two options, the Bluefox NX1 is the most normal smartphone of the bunch. It has Play Store access and a conventional aspect ratio. That said—still expect compromises. This phone has an LCD screen, a single 20MP rear camera, a 5MP front-facing camera, and no fingerprint reader. On the flip side, you have a microSD card slot and a built-in IR blaster. There’s also a programmable key on the side that can be used to activate the flashlight, record a voice note, or place the phone on silent. If you just want a usable small phone for as cheap as possible, the Bluefox NX1 delivers that will also providing some added novelty in the process.

While it’s true that many smartphones look the same, there’s a growing amount of novelty out there. Whether you’re looking for a phone that can become a 10-inch tablet or one that you can take apart with a screwdriver, phones are fun again, even if small phones aren’t your jam.