What’s the perfect way to end the year?  A roundup of smartphone rumors and concept designs that excite us as we head into 2014.

For the holidays, many of you guys received a new smartphone, probably an iPhone 5S or 5c, a Galaxy Note III, Galaxy S4 Active or Zoom, HTC One or even a Nokia Lumia 1520. But as we all know, once we roll into 2014, there will be a fresh year of new devices coming to the market.

So what could be in store for consumers this coming year?

2014 smartphone concept designs & rumors

Samsung’s 4GB RAM

People have been pretty excited about the Galaxy Note III’s 3GB RAM, but Samsung plans improve that with upcoming smartphones with a 4GB RAM version.

Should Samsung pull it off, its future phones will get a 50 percent performance boost, with only 40 percent less power required. That means Samsung phones will be faster but will be kinder on the battery life.  Wouldn’t you want a Galaxy device that is able to keep up with all your daily needs and is able to last more than a day on a single charge?

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Samsung Galaxy S5

Back in September, the guys at GalaxyS5Info released a concept design for a rumored device which features a 5.3″ OLED Youm display that extends to the sides which eliminates the need for physical buttons for volume control. It also comes with a renovated home button, a single port for charging and accommodating a SIM card and microSD, 3GB of RAM, a 2GHz Exynos 5 OctaCore Processor running Android 4.4 KitKat, a 3200 mah Li-ion battery, and a 16MP Carl Zeiss camera.

But things change and people want more, so the the team reworked its concept design of the Galaxy S5.  The updated design now features a 5.2″ flexible curved display with 2K resolution, 16 MP ISOCELL camera made by Samsung itself, and captures 4K quality pictures as well as full HD videos. The concept design also features a 4MP front camera, an iris scanner, ambient and proximity sensors, and a metal body frame instead of polycarbonate.

The four corners of this concept device will have speakers, 4GB RAM, 64 Bit Exynos-Octa core processor, supports wireless headphones, and will run Android 4.4 KitKat.  The concept design looks a lot like the LG G Flex, thanks to the curve.  And the iris scanner is out to make Apple’s Touch ID look like a primitive technology, taking security to a whole new level.

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iPhone Air

If you received an iPhone 5S this Christmas, you’re likely amazed at how light the device is.  It’s narrow enough to comfortably fit in the palm of your hands, but the screen is bigger so you can use it with ease.  But what if Apple releases and even lighter, yet bigger iPhone next year?  Some are calling it the iPhone 6, while others the iPhone Air.

Concept designs of the said iPhone have surfaced the web.  One concept design features a 5-inch screen, a thinner body, and no physical buttons.  If you want to control the volume, you can do so by swiping on the edge of the screen. If you want to activate Siri, you need to double tap on the Apple logo that replaces the home button.  Though the concept design looks good, I doubt Apple will go this route especially when it introduced the Touch ID on the iPhone 5S.  This fingerprint-scanning technology is likely to remain in near-future versions of the iPhone.

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LG’s Knock

LG has announced that its L Series 2 smartphone line will be receiving the Knock functionality in an upcoming update.  The Knock functionality debuted on the LG G2 smartphone, which allows the user to turn their device on or off by tapping on the screen twice.

The LG G2 is quite an unusual phone on its own, with its volume and lock keys placed in the back of the device, instead of on the sides.  Though its appearance is slightly abstract, the design change makes sense when you try adjusting the volume while in the middle of a call.

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Oppo Find 7

Oppo may not be a household brand name, but with its sleek design, Android lovers may have something to look forward to in 2014.  The Oppo N1 is priced at $599 and interested parties can order online.

image via Oppo

It features a 13MP rotating camera, dual flash, full metal aluminum alloy frame, a 0-Touch rear panel for easier control, 5.9-inch full HD screen, and an 0-Click remote control for the camera.  The Oppo N1 runs on Color, a modified version of Android and is based on CyanogenMod.

If you’re already drooling over the Oppo N1, you’ll probably love the Oppo Find 7 which reportedly features a 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 CPU, 3GB RAM, a 13MP shooter, an Adreno 450 GPU and a 4000 mAh battery.  Nothing much is known about the Oppo Find 7, as the company likes to tease consumers by releasing as little information as possible to pique interest.  We’ll find out more in 2014.

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4120 Elibom

If you’re tired of smartphones that all look the same, then the 4120 Elibom may tickle your fancy.  It’s a concept design from Russian designer Nataliya Privalova and it’s something people from various industries may appreciate.

The 4120 Elibom features a transparent display with a solar battery on the back, and has a wooden base with a QWERTY keyboard, a tactile back panel, front and back cameras, a micro-projector, microUSB socket, hands-free socket, speaker, mic, and number of features that would be really helpful for work such as a color measuring tool, air pollution tester, laser liner, light meter and more.  Fully loaded, this isn’t something you’re likely to see every day.

Samsung Galaxy S5 concept design images courtesy GalaxyS5Info