The smartphone industry has been increasing rapidly day by day with innovation at its peak. The future of smartphones is nothing but astonishing. People will see the tech which they couldn’t even imagine. The recent phones are already so good in terms of speed, design, optics and now its a challenge for every brand to make it different from others and bring something new to the table. Smartphone is something which we want around us all the time, thus brands are putting in every effort to make it as a utility to get tasks done. So let’s checkout some ideas & concepts that are in works or need minor modifications to make them considered. Note that we will not cover concepts that are not attainable at this moment like full glass devices or phones which can be completely bent.
In-display Camera
Since the bezels have been reduced in phones, there are number of ways to make the perfect placement for the front camera to achieve full screen experience without any distractions like notch or punch-hole. Vivo came up with the concept of pop-up selfie camera which uses motors and similarly many brands adopted that concept. This does makes some great experience like the OnePlus 7 Pro. The problem arises is that it uses a mechanical part i.e. which is not durable for years and will eventually tear down when it reaches its life span. So, then comes in-display concept in which the camera is literally under the display. It works on OLED screens only as of yet. The camera is activated when light passes through it. The camera wont be visible on homescree, lockscreen or any video which you are watching. Currently Xiaomi and Oppo have already showed this concept infact Oppo held an event for the same. Check out this tech work in actions-
We can expect this tech to be widely used in mid 2020 in high end phones atleast. With this, a distraction and motorised camera free experience can be given to consumers. Now the question is which is the best camera phone? Well no phone is perfect, it all depends on the different software optimisation and also depends on what the user likes. Best camera phone doesn’t exist as of yet. But there sure is best camera app or least to say, close to best that is Google camera which is found on Google Pixel. This camera app can be ported to many phones which support Camera2api and enjoy the picture quality like Pixel phones.
Curve Edge 2.0
Remember the edge screens that Samsung introduced way back with Galaxy S7 and Note Edge? Those type of designs are still being used on almost all high end phones like Galaxy S10, Huawei Mate 20, P30 Pro and even OnePlus 7 Pro. This type of edge is going to get more curvature meaning close to 90 degree. First brands to serve this might be Huawei and Vivo as their front glasses have leaked in full glory. Samsung could also have been in this race unfortunately it scrapped the idea of Curve Edge 2.0 and other manufacturers took that path. Some people like curved screens and some don’t, after all it’s all about preference.
Check out more of his tweets on Full-Display V2.0 and here the glasses of Huawei Mate 30/Pro is being shown which is set to debut in Q4 of 2019.
Full-Display v2.0 leaks more and more, at least two mobile phones will adopt such a curved screen to cover the design on both sides, Samsung is too conservative, has killed this similar project, these innovations will be led by Chinese mobile phones. pic.twitter.com/mp2Y6IZjQ0
— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) July 12, 2019
This will result in a 100% screen to body ratio as no matter what, bezels are not present on the sides. Also this curved edges can be used a utility like for notifications, time etc.
Foldable Phones (Future of smartphones turned into reality)
This imagination has already become a reality in this Q1 of 2019. With the likes of Samsung Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X already in production. This phones as the name suggests literally fold into two halves. Meaning you can get tablet and phone mode both in a device. This can be very entertaining while gaming or watching videos. It will act as a huge gaming phone as it will be equipped with large screen in a tablet. Especially foldable phones will have a high end processor which makes it a great gaming phone. Unfortunately one major con of foldable phones are the hinge mechanism, if that results in fault then whole structure fails. This exactly happened with the Galaxy Fold when Samsung sent out few review units to tech reviewers. The major flaw was that hinge was not properly aligned making the screen break out from the middle where the device folds. Also read more about Foldable phones and Galaxy Fold here
QLED Smartphone Displays
QLED Smartphone displays can be the next big revolution in display segment of smartphones. First of all what is QLED? QLED (Quantum dot LED) A display technology that uses quantum dots to emit light. QLED is expected to be more power efficient than OLED and less costly to manufacture and at the same time resulting in better picture quality .QLED is also ultra-thin, transparent and flexible. QLED has now been widely used in TVs already. In smartphone QLED tech can be very useful and this is because smartphones these days are power hungry so if the display utilises less battery then it will be wonders. Besides that, QLED can also be folded easily which makes patch for easy manufacture of foldable phones. There has been rumours that brands are working of QLED smartphone displays. Who knows, the future of smartphones lies in QLED. Hopefully we see QLED smartphones sooner or later.
Source: Digital Trends
Fully AI Controlled Phone
This is not specifically a physical features as rest but rather full dependent on software and algorithms. Personal Assistants in phone like Siri, Google Assistant, Cortana have come a long way. They can perform most of the tasks with ease now like opening apps, performing certain actions like turning ON Bluetooth, searching for basic answers on the web etc.
A fully AI functional phone can be the one which needs minimum set of commands like replying to messages to whomsoever it can with a genuine reply. Though this will take away your privacy as the information needs to be processed by the AI which is done by sending the data to the server back and forth. Other feature could be the moment you pickup your phone, it will suggest the apps and change settings according to the time.
Thoughts on Future of Smartphones
Smartphones are here to stay which means continuous innovation will be done over the years. Whether it be camera, displays, gaming brands will reach the peak one day or the other. Its just the matter of time and a long way to go especially for us as consumers what brands have to offer in the coming years. Future of smartphones is yet to be fully explored and when brands do, it will open alot of opportunities.
