The Death of Smartphones
What Will Replace Them?
FUTURE PROOF – BLOG BY FUTURES PLATFORM
Many tech giants and experts believe that we will see a decline in present-day smartphones within the next decade. Smartphones will be challenged by a wide range of wearable gadgets and smart systems which provide new, convenient ways to communicate and enjoy the benefits of the digital world. If everything goes according to the boldest visions of the future, the ultimate mobile computing interface might be you. And that could dictate the end of smartphones.
Tech giants, like Microsoft, Facebook, Apple and Google, among many new start-ups, are betting on the rise of augmented reality devices. VR/AR headsets, and smart glasses and contact lenses could project the digital imaginary straight into users’ eyes and decrease our dependency on smartphone screens.
The International Data Corporation (IDC) expects worldwide spending on augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR) of $50.9 billion in 2026. It’s no wonder that the major tech players are competing to get their share of the rapidly growing market.
Another important development challenging many popular smartphone features is the rise of artificial intelligent systems, like Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana. When these virtual personal assistants (VPAs) become smarter, they give us a possibility to communicate efficiently with different kinds of voice-enabled devices.
According to Gartner‘s predictions, the majority of personal devices, wearables and other consumer Internet of Things (IoT) endpoints will be designed to work with minimal or zero touch by 2020. We will interact increasingly with our devices by making use of voice and other alternatives, like ambient technology, biometrics, movement and gestures.
All these new interfaces give room for new intelligent gadgets that are expected to replace smartphones as we now know them. Many futurists, scientists and innovators believe that eventually we will get rid of all smart gadgets that we need to passively carry with us.
The most forward-looking technologies could give our brains an ability ”to bypass communication in the way that we currently know it”, as Techradar’s article about the development of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) explains.
Neuralink, a company co-founded by SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, is working to create whole-brain BCI, which could replace all the external devices we need for communicating with others, searching the web, or interacting with your symbiotic AI.
If Musk’s company manages to succeed, we could have a ’digital tertiary layer’ integrated directly into our brains. To put it simply, Neuralink could turn us into cyborgs.
If humans are willing to merge with machines and become the ultimate computing platform, it wouldn’t be only the end of smartphones, but the start of a completely new and unknown era for humanity.
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