It’s easy to assume that innovation in the realm of the smartphone is dead.
After all, there are plenty of professionals in the industry that say so.
Some even go so far as to say that the mobile phone, in general, will be dead in five years as advancements in smart home technology, virtual reality (VR), and especially digital assistants and artificial intelligence (AI) morph into one all-encompassing technology.
In a sense, they will die… But only in the ways that we interact with them today…
Right now, we use phones to send messages, make calls, browse the web, and watch videos.
That will still be the case, but the catalyst for this innovation movement lies with AI assistants like Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) Siri, Amazon’s (NASDAQ: AMZN) Alexa, and Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Google Assistant that continue to lead the way and make our devices smarter and more personalized than ever before.
Don’t be surprised if in the next few years our smartphones will look relatively the same as they do now, but we’ll be talking to them much more and they’ll able to control the majority of our internet-connected lives.
Here are some other features that we can expect to see in our future smartphones…
Blockchain Batteries
Just this week, Aigang Network, a Singapore-based leader in blockchain protocol for digital insurance, made history with the launch of its Android and iOS demo app.
Powered by Ethereum, the demo for the company’s peer-to-peer (P2P) digital smartphone battery insurance is the first breakthrough of its kind.
This new release heralds the birth of an exciting, new, and fully decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) marketplace for consumer insurance through harnessing the power of smart contracts.
With a simultaneous launch on both the Apple Store and Google Play, the app has been custom designed to operate as a smartphone battery insurance highlighting Aigang Protocol.
Working as a P2P based marketplace among private investors and the insured, the demo features an attractive one-month free trial, no long-term contracts, and instant payouts.
The revolutionary battery insurance for smartphones represents a momentous opportunity for the digital insurance industry.
More good news for consumers: Insurance estimates are now based on the most recent data, and claims can be paid out instantly.
Given its growth rate and its position at the center of the world’s first-ever consumer insurance built on smart contracts, Aigang Network is in the process of expanding its team of blockchain protocol professionals.
This demo app perfectly showcases how a new technology can enable digital insurance for devices.
Future plans hint that the company plans to roll out digital insurance for self-driving cars and drones.
Smartphone Facelift
As we’ve seen so far, smartphone technology moves at a brisk pace, with new cameras, processors, and other enhancements being unveiled each year.
But one feature seems to be overlooked each time — the screen.
Granted, fingerprint scanners, dual cameras, and contactless payments were revolutionary advancements in their own rights, but the foundation of smartphone screens seems relatively unchanged over the years.
They’re incredibly fragile and can shatter at the slightest impact.
In the coming years, we should see some drastic new developments in smartphone screens.
Rumors of bendable, flexible, and foldable screens have been circulating as “the next big thing” for quite some time now, but we’re finally starting to see some working prototypes that sport this new technology.
Although it’s not a smartphone, Lenovo (OTC: LNVGY) has unveiled a new laptop that features a curved and bending screen, which succeeds in achieving a whole new level of luxury.
The image of the concept released by the China-based firm shows a screen that stretches across most of the laptop and curves down toward the keyboard.
Samsung (OTC: SSNLF) has been working hard to bring a foldable, bendable, and stretchable screen to the smartphone industry in the very near future.
We’ve already seen early flexible displays from LG (NYSE: LG) with the likes of its G Flex and G Flex 2 phones.
If durability accompanies the promised flexibility feature in screens, then we’ll surely be looking at a slam dunk for tech companies.
Other Futuristic Features
The Cat S60 is an incredibly tough smartphone branded by the construction firm Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT), a company that no one would have guessed would enter the smartphone industry.
Its phone will be the first ever to feature thermal-imaging technology.
It’s an extremely useful and convenient feature for engineers, service professionals, and emergency responders as it aids in the location of system faults or missing persons.
But it can easily be adopted by the masses for simple tasks such as finding a lost pet in the dark or checking for weak spots in home insulation.
It may be niche for now, but it could turn up on more devices in the future — just like GPS did.
Ultrasonic fingerprint sensors could be another feature that we could expect to see in our new smartphones.
Meridian Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ: VIVO) has been previewing a new prototype that boasts such technology, courtesy of Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM).
The scanner works through OLED displays up to 1.2 mm thick.
It will even be able to read movement when wet or greasy, which current fingerprint sensors aren’t able to do effectively.
Richard Lai, Chinese Engadget editor-in-chief and senior editor, states:
I found the fingerprint recognition speed to be noticeably slower – about one second between first touch and entering home screen – than the near-instantaneous unlock that I’m used to on most recent smartphones.
Although the kinks are still being worked out, Qualcomm and Synaptics (NASDAQ: SYNA) have been working diligently to perfect the ultrasonic sensor for quite some time now.
I wonder who will be able to bring theirs to market first.
Several smartphone makers, including Samsung and Huawei, have released 360-degree add-on cameras for their devices recently.
But this is something that could eventually be integrated into the phones themselves.
Immersive 360-degree videos are gradually making their marks.
Companies like Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) and other large firms are pushing for the technology while VR companies are introducing more 360-VR content that can be used with all mobile phones.
The Bottom Line
No one knows for sure whether or not our beloved smartphones will be completely unrecognizable or become extinct altogether.
What we know for certain is that tech companies are working hard to revolutionize our smartphone experience within the next decade.
And it will be interesting to see what they come up with and what innovative technology will be implemented into our future phones.
That’s all for now.
Until next time,
John Peterson
Pro Trader Today