For whatever reason, transparency is having something of a renaissance. At the end of last year, HTC introduced the U11+, the most striking model of which carried a translucent back, showing off its big NFC coil and internal components. HTC followed that up this year with a similar variant of the U12+ that pairs that transparency with a lovely blue reflective sheen. And lo and behold, Xiaomi's recently announced Mi 8 just happens to have a bare-all option, too. Xiaomi's even gone as far as faking the look of certain hardware elements to make the device more aesthetically pleasing.

Translucent products aren't new; the late '90s iMac being a prime example. Phones, speakers and many other products -- tech or otherwise -- have flirted with transparency, but perhaps it feels retro enough, again, to revive at this point.

Another distinctive style gaining momentum is the multi-tone metallic finish. The Huawei P20 Pro and Honor 10 (also made by Huawei) have gorgeous purpley-blue backs that set them apart from most other devices out there right now. That is, other than the Lenovo Z5, which has torn a page straight out of Huawei's stylebook with basically the same two-tone color option. You can understand why, as these devices are striking and most importantly, different. Just being different doesn't always work, mind. Manufacturers have toyed with ceramic finishes in the past and that's never really caught on.

These days, color trends spread like wildfire. Five years ago, it was gold. The champagne-colored iPhone 5S wasn't the first gold phone by any means, but it was the catalyst that made other manufacturers quickly follow suit. These phones were divisive and distinctive, but gold is a color that's more closely associated with luxury in Asia than anywhere else. Particularly in China, which at the time was one of the largest growing smartphone markets. No surprise, then, that companies wanted to cater their devices for such a large audience.