Join the discussion: What would phones be like in 10 years?

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• 1y agoedited
↵NickTodorov said:

I suppose phones in 10 years would be mostly the same, but I do have a few predictions as well:

  • Foldables and regular phones would coexist (30-70% ratio in developed markets)
  • We'll finally have a battery tech to replace (or dramatically improve over) Li-Ion
  • Even tighter integration with cloud services due to faster 5G/6G connections
  • Front cameras on most phones will be under the display
  • Most phones would look and feel about the same (as they do now): same sizes, materials, overall design
  • New naming schemes! Letter + number + Pro/Plus/Max is getting kinda boring IMO
  • Cameras may not get much better, but they should get smaller. Having 3-4 cameras at the back would still be the norm

Not foldables but i think (all kinds of) rollables will be there and most people will be using these. And some people will be using glasses with properly integrated phones.

In twenty years...contacts that also do AR.

In thiry years...implanted devices in the brain itself using which one would not only be able to make calls, but see VR/ AR etc

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Mariyan Slavov
Mariyan Slavov
Phonearena team
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• 1y ago
↵Charlie2k said:

I guess there will be two camps.


One camp with the non secure and non privacy focused phones. iOS and ordinary Androids. In ten years they will continue being a nightmare from this perspective, but average Joe people will still buy them.


The second camp will be secure and privacy focused phones. For companies that have some form of development, research or other sensitive activities. And ordinary people that want to avoid getting spied on by totalitarian governments. Like US authorities, that already have forced internet companies to reveal users that search for abortion clinics. That is so messed up. My prognosis is that Fairphone will be the first one to release a phone like this, since EU is about to force all manufacturers to become like Fairphone - so Fairphone need a new angle..and that will be privacy and security. And after what Snowden revealed about US gov doings and what the Israeli companies are selling to both Democratic and non Democratic government my crystal-ball is showing more physical switches on the phones. And deGoogled devices that still function OK. Kinda like what we have today on all business-laptops, but on smartphones. The ability to easily physicaly turn off cameras, microphones when not needed etc.

Motorola did something similar with the ThinkPhone, but I don't think these devices will ever become mainstream. The regular Joe, as you pointed out, doesn't care about security.

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Mariyan Slavov
Mariyan Slavov
Phonearena team
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• 1y ago
↵BennyBluprint said:

In 10yrs


-Charging speeds won't be a huge selling point, everything will charge in less than 30 min

-4k screens will be the norm with 2k screens being "budget/value/lite"

-Gaming phones will get it right with the camera (better Software/hardware) & be the top phones year after year

-There will be a such thing as a Streaming phone. Think front ring light, lapel mic etc.

-There will be more phones that docks into a DSLR Frame. Like the Xiaomi 13 Ultra but more mainstream for vloggers

-The post processing & on device editing in videos & photos will be almost desktop like.

-Under display front cams will be the norm

-Device security will be WAY better

-Wearable devices will have more sensors & there will be some new standard where you can send a health report to your Dr

That's a great summary!

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• 1y agoedited
↵MariyanSlavov said:

Motorola did something similar with the ThinkPhone, but I don't think these devices will ever become mainstream. The regular Joe, as you pointed out, doesn't care about security.

Depend on where in the world you live. While most governments are getting more and more oppressive, in ten years it most probably will be at a whole new level than today. Right now most people are OK with current situation, but it's slowly getting worse. While most companies involved in some kind of research or development would most probably want these kind if phones today if been available.

EU already wants to have backdoors in encrypted communication. US that have the biggest surveillance apparatus in the world keep expanding it's reach to extreme levels. China, Russia, Israel etc are also working on their ends but have more limited reach in the western part of the world.

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Mariyan Slavov
Mariyan Slavov
Phonearena team
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• 1y ago
↵Charlie2k said:

Depend on where in the world you live. While most governments are getting more and more oppressive, in ten years it most probably will be at a whole new level than today. Right now most people are OK with current situation, but it's slowly getting worse. While most companies involved in some kind of research or development would most probably want these kind if phones today if been available.

EU already wants to have backdoors in encrypted communication. US that have the biggest surveillance apparatus in the world keep expanding it's reach to extreme levels. China, Russia, Israel etc are also working on their ends but have more limited reach in the western part of the world.

I can already see some powerful lobbying against such devices, and they will most likely be illegal right where people need them the most (China, Russia).

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• 1y ago

Probably the standard refresh rate would be 165hz or even higher depending on what company wants to stand out more (Looking at you Motorola.) Foldables could probably be perfected crease wise, better cameras overall. Tri-Folds will also be on the market in-between the 10 years.

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• 1y ago

History repeating itself. Cell phones gone, back to corded, rotary dial phones, party lines.

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• 1y ago

Foldable and rollable display phones, graphene batteries, under display cameras, and all working under a decentralized operating system where we own our data. Web3 will be perfected.

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• 1y ago

The designs of phones themselves has stagnated to the point where you can no longer refine a device other then subjective improvements, the candy bar all screen design is at its pinnacle design wise.

The next iteration is a new form factor, be it foldable or rollable, screen size may creep up slightly but not much, there will be more phones with 7" display, and perhaps bigger if foldables have their day.

Cameras are always improving, but a lot of that is now computational, but it would not surprise me to see 4 cameras as normal, with periscope cameras capable of 15 or 20X optical zoom, most cameras set ups will feature at least 2 x 1" sensors.

Processors will be stupidly high but games will still lag far behind the capabilities, game developers simply have not been able to design or are unwilling to design proper console level games, and they still cannot design games to work offline.

resolutions will probably remain as there is literally zero point improving them further as the eye simply cannot see this improvement, although budget phones will have better displays.

Storage will probably increase, and most phones will ship as standard 1Tb instead f the current 256gb., and budget phones may have 512gb.

We will have 6G by then, so data transfers will be considerably faster, although the roll out will be in its initial stages in 10 years.

Modular designs may come back, especially around the cameras, attachments and such to improve the quality, much like the Xiaomi 13 ultra, perhaps like the 12S we will be able to attach our own lenses to the phones.

Prices will be bordering double what they are now, if the past decade is anything to go by, or at the very least expect 50% increase.

Other then that we will have silly fast wifi speeds, bluetooth will be faster, probably a new USB-C speed standard.

Battery size will not increase much, although the batteries themselves will change to a new material, most phones will charge in rapid time.

Most of this is iterative so plenty of that change will happen gradually before then as it currently is

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Mariyan Slavov
Mariyan Slavov
Phonearena team
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• 1y ago
↵12sag02 said:

History repeating itself. Cell phones gone, back to corded, rotary dial phones, party lines.

I wanna see this happening :) :) :)

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