The morning after Samsung debuted its newest flagship Android smartphone, The Samsung Galaxy S4, rival company Apple did something unprecedented: it released a mini-website that specifically pitches to potential smartphone owners to choose the iPhone over “everything else.”

Whether or not Apple had intended it, the mere presence of this website elicits an admission that the company, confident in the iPhone’s dominance in both technology and user experience since its release in 2007, believes that it now has some competition. And it’s not that much of a stretch: the most recent generation of Android smartphones have taken a design aesthetic that is decidedly more elevated in materials and quality than ever before.

Android smartphone design is making leaps in industrial design more than ever before, paving the way for bolder looks in the future and establishing a reputation that the phones are just as pretty as they are functional.

They're Bigger, but Efficient

Android manufacturers are making their boldest statements in the size of their handsets, pushing the average size of the phone beyond the standard four-inch model to five or even six inches. But the public is eating up the big phone trend, In fact, Samsung’s biggest phone to date, the Samsung Galaxy Note II (which measured at nearly 6 inches), not only outsold its predecessor but also helped boost the company to the highest selling Android phone vendor.

And all of that real estate is becoming utilized more and more, thanks to eye-popping HD screens with razor-thin bezels. Gone are the days of the HTC Nexus One or the Samsung Behold: thick, clunky phones with huge bezels that betray the software’s smartphone capabilities. Or, heaven forbid, the old school Android flip phone.

For example, HTC’s newest entry into its flagship One series is a five-inch phone with 4.7-inch screen, putting the phone’s Super LCD 3 display center stage. It’s a design that clearly plays to HTC’s strengths — the vivid colors and tight pixel density of the screen — and makes the phone look cutting edge and expensive.

Of course, the arms race is heading towards the ultimate in smartphone design — a large phone that is nearly all touchscreen. It’s still far away, but at the rate that smartphone manufacturers are pushing their designs from generation to generation, it’s not far off.

They Sport Better Materials

The newest phone models aren’t just bigger. They’re shinier, too.

It’s no secret that Android phones have struggled with the plague of plastic, and to some extent, it still does — for all of the beautiful features on the Samsung Galaxy S4, it’s still a phone encased in plastic. But other next-gen phone manufacturers are exploring other, higher-end materials to give their handsets a luxe feel.

A few of the most buzzy Android phones,the Sony Xperia Z and the LG Nexus 4, have the smooth and shiny feel that only glass can give. The Nexus 4 not only sports shatter-resistant Gorilla Glass on its front end, but also a slim glass back that is lightly stippled to give a nice, subtle touch to the phone’s overall look. The upcoming Xperia Z also features a seamless glass body on front and back, and sports snazzy aluminum features for all of the phone’s switches and buttons.

Aluminum is also a big feature of modern Android smartphones, accenting smartphone buttons and bumpers like the ones found on the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD and aforementioned Xperia Z. The HTC One is dominating this material, with the handset set in a subtly curved aluminum unibody enclosure, and earning Gizmodo’s praise as a “phone that looks beautiful without aping anyone.”

While the cocoon of the traditional plastic candy shell is still tight, handsets are breaking free from the safe and boring grip of the low-cost material to satisfy consumers’ needs for a sharper, futuristic phone.

They Just Feel Better

The look and the materials are important to the overall industrial design, but there’s more to the aesthetic of a great handset than the surface. The way that a handset feels in the hand is an indescribable series of preferences that are different to everyone, but there are a few sticking points that are signs of great design.

First and foremost, the thickness and weight of classic handsets were nothing short of abhorrent. Old school phones were not only impossibly thick to cover the clunky processors and batteries in the phone, but some were even double in girth to provide for a physical keyboard to create the abhorrent slide phone. Now, the average thickness of smartphones released this year is around a third of an inch, and they weigh only around five ounces. The light, thin design of new smartphones continue to just feel right, easy to maneuver and grip. Thin and sleek phones also make up for the burgeoning size almost everywhere else -- and helps make super huge phones feel less cumbersome.

In addition, there are those little phone features that, when thoughtfully implemented, can delight users and follow through on that aesthetic experience. All of the major smartphone developers are finding their niche in providing proper haptic and audio feedback to respond to taps and gestures on the handset, and proprietary like Samsung’s Touchwiz are becoming increasingly more sophisticated and can boost the overall look of the phone. The Samsung Galaxy S4 doesn’t wow in external presentation, but the little vibrations the phone makes to different movements make the phone’s interface more magical — certainly a plus for the handset overall.

The feeling of the phone is a key part in overall design, and companies are definitely paying more attention to it. As we move forward, it’s key that these little personal touches are really what will set handsets apart from their competition.

2013: The Year of The Android?

This year’s generation of Android phones show a lot of promise, but the big challenge now for phone manufacturers is to produce the true jaw-dropper that deviates from the classic candy-bar design. It may not happen in 2013, but it’s safe to say that Android phones are hitting their stride and even more great design is on the horizon.

Lauren Hockenson is a tech reporter and 8-bit enthusiast who dreams of being a wizard. She can be found on MyIGN at lhockenson or on Twitter at @lhockenson