Over three-quarter of U.S. adults (77%) say they own a smartphone, up from 35% in 2011, making the smartphone one of the most quickly adopted consumer technologies in recent history. Expanding borders, there were 1.57 billion worldwide smartphone users in 2014, a number that’s expected to nearly double (2.87B) by 2020.
In other words, a lot of people use smartphones.
Why? What about smartphones is so special that practically everyone either has one or wants to get one?
For starters, look at the name. Being smartphones means that their capabilities extend past that of normal mobile phones, as they have what we now consider essential functions, such as:
● Internet connectivity, whether through WiFi or mobile data
● High-quality cameras
● Biometric authentication
● And countless applications with functions that range games to increasing productivity
After all, likened to small computers that fit in your pocket, it’s clear that advancements in smartphone technology have taken them very far from their beginnings as solely two-way communication devices.
If we’ve come this far, what’s to come? What are some future smartphone features that we can expect in the years to come?
From alternate realities that can combine the real and the imaginary, to holograms that allow for real-life interactions with the virtual, here are three things to expect from future smartphones.
1. Blockchain
For those who have either heard of blockchain, but don’t really know what it is, or have never even heard of it, blockchain is essentially a type of ledger—a very secure ledger—that’s composed of cryptographically linked records.Each record, called a block, is time-stamped and linked to the previous block to create a decentralized database of records, which functions as a peer-to-peer (P2P) network that’s extremely secure because, once a transaction takes place, the block created is unchangeable.
With that in mind, while blockchain is often reserved for finance discussions around cryptocurrency like bitcoin, its capabilities can actually extend to smartphones. After all, having a phone that runs on blockchain means that breaches or hacking are negligible.
For example, the upcoming Finney Blockchain Phone, announced last year by Sirin Labs, is an open-source smartphone that runs on the blockchain and is designed to support inherent blockchain applications like a cold storage crypto wallet, secure exchange access, encrypted communications, and a P2P resource sharing ecosystem for payments.
With an extra layer of security provided by blockchain, future smartphones like the Finney can provide much-needed peace of mind that comes with owning a device that has practically all your information and can be hacked into in seconds.
2. Alternate Realities
Advancements in smartphone technology have made it so we can enter different realities at the touch of a button.Case in point, virtual and augmented reality.
While virtual reality (VR) completely transports you to a virtual world, augmented reality (AR) combines the real and the imaginary by overlaying a digital layer over real-world elements.
Whatever reality you choose, the popularity of devices like the Samsung Gear VR and applications like Snapchat and Pokemon Go has opened the door for programmers and developers to dip their toes in these alternate realities.
Specific to AR, because smartphones are portable, they serve as the perfect platform for users to augment the world around them. For example, future smartphone features can include an augmented map that visually guides you where you need to go through arrows that only you see or an information hub that tells you more about what you’re looking at (e.g. looking at a restaurant presents its name, menu, ratings, and reviews, etc.).
3. Holograms
While Apple’s Retina Display that delivers resolutions so sharp that we can’t actually perceive them may be the peak for screens in terms of resolution, the addition of holograms can take the smartphone as a whole to a whole new level.For instance, we already have 3D screens in phones like the IQH 3D, and by combining this features with projections, we can create holograms that jump from the screen.
In use, because we can ‘grab’ what’s being projected, we can digitally touch what’s on our phones. For example, we can do things like resize and rotate pictures by ‘physically’ pulling, compressing and rotating them, or create and edit 3D models as if they were physically in front of us.
Let’s Take a Second Look
With future smartphone technology looking so good, it makes sense to go over what we covered one more time:1. Blockchain that will make future smartphones more secure than ever before.
2. Alternate Realities that combine the real and the imaginary.
3. Holograms as future smartphones features that allow us to ‘grab’ what’s being projected.
Enjoy what’s to come!
