After going back to the Nokia 3310 last year, you might think smartphones have reached a technological plateau. Also, when you look at flagship smartphones from 2007, when the world first laid its eyes on the first-generation iPhone, not a lot has changed. Smartphones still spot the same rounded edges, the interface is largely the same, and icons haven’t changed much.
That’s where the similarity between first-generation smartphones and today’s smartphones ends though. What is under the hood of the modern smartphone continues to evolve at a blistering pace such that we get new innovations almost with every new smartphone that enters the market.
With smartphone manufacturers exploiting new materials, improving on wireless functionality, and the continued improvements in artificial intelligence (A.I), expect the next smartphone generations to cram new technologies in even sleeker devices.
Here are 7 new smartphone technological innovations that are shaping the future of mobile computing and telephony.
Foldable Smartphones
Samsung recently made headlines when Samsung confirmed it would be releasing the world’s first foldable X smartphone, the Galaxy F in the near future. The concept of the Galaxy X smartphone might be as well come from a sci-fi movie. It’s more than a concept though, and more than a creation of sci-fi fantasy movies.
The latest leaks revealed Samsung is well on course of solving the biggest hurdle to the realizing a foldable phone. The company created a curved battery with a capacity that could be as high as 6, 000mAH for the Galaxy X. It’s also rumored that the foldable phone will get a self-healing screen made from durable materials making it resistant to screen cracks and other damage following a fall.
Your Phone Will Be Able to Recognize You
In the near future, you won’t have to lock your phone with a password or a PIN code. With smartphones getting incredibly powerful sensors such as fingerprint scanners and iris scanners, in the near future, your facial features.
While most new smartphones come bundled with facial recognition capabilities, in their current state, they cannot be used to secure your phone. Contemporary facial recognition systems are underwhelming in that they can be fooled with a photo of the user.
New developments in facial recognition technology promise robust facial identification by scanning the contours of the user’s head and face, making it harder to fool the software.
Augmented Reality
Imagine being able to see how a new dining set would look in your apartment before buying it. With Augmented Reality (AR) seeing tremendous growth and innovations, soon you’ll be able to see how a new appliance, furniture, or garment looks like before you buy it from an online store.
AR in smartphones will allow you to project digital images into the real world, where you can interact with them. Combined with virtual reality (VR), AR will take new innovations in smartphones to the next level.
Holographic Display
Another concept ripped out of sci-fi fantasy movies is the holographic display, made popular by the Star Wars Franchise. Scientists and researchers are making considerable headway in making holograms a reality.
The camera maker Red, introduced the first holographic phone, the Hydrogen One. The phone projects a holographic image by synthesizing light-field holographic content on particles in the air while preserving normal screen operations. However, for the holographic display to work, mobile app development must adapt to the new technology.
Modular Phones
Soon, upgrading your smartphone won’t mean spending hundreds of dollars for a new one. With modular smartphones, you can simply swap out different pieces for newer ones to improve the phone’s functionality. With a modular phone, you can customize it to suit your needs. You can add extra memory modules, swap out camera modules, and even swap out the display screen for better resolution.
Project Ara, under Google’s stewardship, breathed life into the modular phone concept, but Google discontinued the project a couple of years ago. That didn’t prevent other phone manufacturers from exploring the idea of modular smartphones. Reports indicate that LG and Lenovo are engaged in modular phone development, and we should see these phones in stores pretty soon.
Phone Chargers Might Become Obsolete
Soon, you won’t have to deal with tangled cabled chargers for your smartphone or remember to carry your charger when going for a trip. Manufacturers are continuously increasing battery capacities with some of them working on hydrogen fuel cells, nanobatteries, kinetic energy, and solar-powered smartphones to ensure phones never run out of power.
Moreover, Tesla’s vision of wireless transmitting electricity looks like the next technology development in smartphone charging capabilities. Today, we have wireless chargers, but phones still have charging ports. In the very near future, the charging port will be removed entirely from their devices. There are already plans to install wireless charging units in coffee shops and other establishments for the benefit of customers. Furniture makers are also looking into bundling wireless charging functionalities in their offerings with IKEA leading the pack.
Virtual Assistants Might Replace Buttons On Your Smartphone
While exploring new technologies in smartphones, it’s impossible to ignore the emergence of virtual assistants. Amazon’s Alexa, Microsoft’s Cortana, Apple’s Siri and Google’s virtual assistant aptly named Google, are taking over most smartphone operations.
The virtual assistants allow you to play music, search and call contacts on your list, search the internet, and even schedule tasks. For now, virtual assistants don’t seem to do a lot, but with the continued technology improvements in both hardware and AI, virtual assistants will be able to predict what you want to do, well before you even know it. They will be able to reply to messages on your request, give you directions on the fly, and even help you order groceries when you run out.
Telephone innovation and development might seem like it has slowed down over the last few years, but with the accelerated technology development in almost every sector, you can expect the new innovations for smartphones to pop up regularly.
Author Bio
Susan Wallace has worked as a freelance technical and academic writer at https://samedaypapers.com/ since 2007. Her fortitude in IT culminated in the numerous publications in different IT-related websites and journals. She lives in Vancouver where she spends her days tinkering with electronics when she is not writing. Susan is also tutoring young kids in summer technology boot camps, helping them learn today’s technology and understand tomorrow’s innovations.
