In recent years, we can barely find a person who doesn’t own a smartphone. Opting for a feature phone (aka a mobile phone with a physical keyboard) nowadays will surely get you marginalized by others and being called a retrograde. Pretty much everyone is on social media, where they post… pretty much every redundant thing they do. But is that really useful and necessary?
In other words, we should ask ourselves if it’s truly us who own our smartphones and not vice versa. But despite still being incredibly popular for now, there’s enough evidence that the smartphone trend is on a slow decline. It’s enough to take a peek at the newest tech achievements in order to realize that the end of the smartphone as a global trend is near. Let’s get into more detail:
Smartwatches:
Smartwatches built by Apple, Samsung, or Google are becoming more and more powerful, and they’ll soon become comparable to the latest flagship smartphones. Who would still be willing to carry a smartphone around, which can easily slip on the floor or concrete if you have a very short moment of not paying attention to what you do with your hands when they can simply have such a powerful device attached to them at all times? In other words, it’s reasonable to expect that smartwatches will become more popular than smartphones in the near future.
Augmented and Virtual Reality:
Let’s also not forget about other wearables. How about AR (augmented reality) glasses? Keeping a pair of glasses on at all times can surely be a lot more comfortable than getting your hands numb while you’re using a smartphone, especially if those AR glasses will become a lot more powerful in the near future, as we can expect.
Long story short for those unaware of the powers of AR glasses: these gadgets can enhance the user experience in several ways as they can blend the physical and digital worlds. Sounds pretty futuristic, indeed, but the real question is if we really need them as we’re being told.
The development of both augmented reality and virtual reality technologies could lead to new ways for people to interact with digital information and environments.
AI and Voice Interfaces:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has evolved to a truly unprecedented level recently because of tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Bard, and other software gimmicks. AI continues to impress the world, and we can expect that voice-activated interfaces and AI-driven personal assistants can become more integral to the ways people interact with technology. It might be a lot more tempting to actually speak to an AI bot to tell it what you want than to type on a touchscreen phone.
Internet of Things (IoT):
It’s also reasonable to expect that the interconnectedness of everyday objects through the Internet of Things (IoT) could develop in more sophisticated ways in the near future. We can expect smart cities, smart homes, and IoT-enabled devices to play more important roles in the lives of many.
However, nobody can predict the future with absolute certainty. The evolution of technology is often unpredictable and influenced by social needs and market demands. Smartphones won’t disappear completely, most probably, but they will definitely become a lot less popular than they are today, as other gadgets will take the leading role.
Tim M. Hill helped bring Digital-Overload from a weekly newsletter to a full-fledged news site by creating a new website and branding. He continues to assist in keeping the site responsive and well organized for the readers. As a writer to Digital-Overload, Tim mainly covers mobile news and gadgets.