The smartphone has revolutionized life as we know it. Nearly overnight it became possible to fit countless computations, infinite information, and constant communication in the palm of your hand.
Over time, screens sharpened, battery life lengthened, and networks grew. Now, two decades into the 21st-century, practically every initial smartphone benchmark has been surpassed, leaving consumers with the question: where do we go next?
Here are six different ways — some very possible and others more theoretical — that smartphones could continue to evolve over the next half of a decade.
Table of Contents
1. Stiff Smartphone Competition
While there are many smartphone manufacturers, thus far, there’s always been one brand to rule them all. Apple’s iPhone has dominated the smartphone market right out of the gate, and until recently it’s shown no signs of slowing down.
However, as the 2020s have kicked off, some have observed that Apple’s current smartphone model is starting to feel a bit dated. The previously world-shaking innovations introduced by practically every new iPhone that hit the market have largely been replaced by small, predictable upgrades to screens, services, and cameras.
If the Jobs-less tech giant can’t up its game quickly, it may find itself falling behind as others like Samsung and Google forge ahead into the future. If this happens, you can bet the smartphone market will have a much more level playing field before too many years have passed.
2. A Family-Friendly Focus
The average age of a smartphone user is constantly dropping, with children getting their first cellular devices at younger and younger ages. With so much power at their fingertips, this has led to an unfettered ability for young, immature children to access inappropriate content, communicate with unknown adults, and cyberbully at will. This has naturally raised the question of how to filter and block various smartphone functions.
While unwieldy app blockers have kind-of addressed the problem, the future of the smartphone appears positioned to address the issue via a different method: creating apps and kids phones. The phones, in particular, focus on basic elements like a GPS, Bluetooth and headphone capabilities, and a camera while avoiding unlimited access to the internet. This trend toward kid-friendly phones and applications is just heating up and should continue to develop quickly over the next five years.
3. Ports And Buttons, a Thing of the Past
The migration away from ports and buttons has already been in effect for a while now, and the next five years appear focused on eliminating them entirely. As consumers become increasingly accustomed to wireless chargers and Bluetooth headsets, the need for ports is rapidly becoming irrelevant.
In addition, buttons are already hard to find. Occasionally faux-buttons, like the digital “back button” on the Pixel 3a, provide a shallow nod toward the buttons of the past, but it seems that the need to physically press a button is quickly becoming a part of smartphone antiquity.
If you’re a fan of a physical phone button, a good old corded headset, or you like to plug your phone in at night to charge, start adjusting your expectations sooner rather than later. Chances are you won’t have these features for long.
4. Multiple Screens, Folding Phones …and Folding Screens?
Recent phone models have begun to return to a folding screen option. This gives the user a small, folded device that they can store in their pocket or purse while also delivering a larger than life presentation when the phone is opened.
The current folding models are outrageously expensive. Nevertheless, chances are more options will follow quickly in their wake, bringing down prices and increasing their availability over the next few years.
In addition to multiple screens and folding phones, there’s a chance that folding screens may appear on the scene too, especially if they can nail down the technology and mass produce it while folding phones are still in vogue.
5. Solar-Powered Smartphones
While batteries and chargers are constantly improving, it doesn’t change the fact that phones in 2020 suck up an enormous amount of electricity. This unsustainable aspect of smartphones looks like it may change in the not-too-distant-future, though. How? Through solar-powered smartphones.
In recent years both Apple and Xiaomi have patented potential solar-powered smartphone designs. While there’s no guarantee that they’ll come out within the next five years, the ever-growing emphasis on things like the environment and ecycling will doubtless put pressure on manufacturers to come up with a more eco-friendly, solar-powered design if at all possible.
In the meantime, there are already a variety of different sun-soaking chargers available. While these aren’t the phones themselves, they are helping to pave the way toward a phone that will never need to be charged, as long as it’s left in a sunbeam for a bit.
6. 5G: the New Normal
Last but certainly not least, the 5G network is coming. Already tested in numerous cities and actively being rolled out across networks, 5G is doubtless going to define the next five years of smartphone usage. Networks are actively upgrading their signals and hardware is attempting to quickly adapt to the blisteringly fast new 5G option.
As everything shifts to a 5G network over the next few years, it will be fascinating to see how it affects both the smartphone and internet industries. Having access to mind-meltingly fast internet may change the need for cable modems and WiFi routers. And there’s always the potential that Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites will make cords and towers irrelevant, whether it takes five years or fifty years to do so.
The Future of Smartphones Is Virtually Unlimited
The smartphone world has reached an interesting crossroads. The days of establishing and proving the concept of a “smartphone” are in the past. Getting everyone online with their own device is also no longer a matter of speculation.
With little left to prove and practically everything possible, the communication world has entered into a frenzy of innovation as they blaze the trail into the future. At this point, it doesn’t matter if you’re talking about solar power, folding screens, 5G, or anything else, the question isn’t one of “if” but rather, “when.”
