Apple, Samsung, Google, Huawei, Xiaomi – there might be a ton of difference between these giant companies but there’s also one big similarity between them: they’re in a heated competition with one another in providing the best smartphones to billions of customers.
And this competition is definitely moving the whole smartphone industry to new and unimaginable heights. It’s so difficult to imagine our lives without these pocket-size devices that we cannot even recall the times when they were part of a dream. That dream was brought to life by one singular event – the announcement of the iPhone.
Steve Jobs brought a revolution to the smartphone world when he said that legendary “one more thing” phrase. And this revolution is driving the industry ever since. I mean, take a look at the smartphones of today: they have almost-DSLR-class cameras; some of the most powerful processors that can easily outperform many desktop-class devices and load comprehensive websites such as PlayAmo real money casino; the most beautiful displays with 2.5K or even 4K resolution, and so much more.
And brace yourselves, the next year and the decade after it will be even more exciting than the previous one. In this article, we’ll take a look at the top 3most prominent trends that will define the smartphone industry next year.
The cellular connection is one of the most used features in every smartphone. And in the last decade, we slowly grew accustomed to the faster connection of 3G first, and eventually – 4G. I remember the time when I couldn’t even imagine accessing a simple website page without waiting for some time for it to load; and when the faster data connection became popular, I was astounded.
Well, we’re standing at the brink of yet another amazement. We already saw what 5G can do in 2019. It was enabled in several big cities all over the world, and the tech geeks were simply astonished by its speed, usually going well over 1 Gbps. And while it’s already here, it’s only accessible in a very tiny subset of the globe.
The year 2020 will mark the real release point for 5G connectivity. And there are two main reasons why we’re so enthusiastic about it. The first one is the readiness of the major cellular carriers to roll out 5G networks this year. For example, Verizon is planning to provide half of the US population with 5G in 2020.
Not only that, they’ll be covering these areas with tons of connectivity modems. That’s because the 5G signal has a higher frequency than 4G, meaning it cannot easily go through walls and other obstacles. Covering the blocks with multiple routers will solve the problem.
The second reason for our optimism is the announcement of 5G smartphones, especially the 5G iPhone. While Samsung and other companies are already in this business, they still don’t constitute the whole industry. And the addition of another mass product in that lineup will greatly accelerate this process.
When Samsung unveiled its Galaxy Fold device, the whole tech geek community went nuts. Sure, there were already some other devices with the same technology, but Galaxy Fold was still a big deal. That’s because it was the first time a mainstream company acknowledged this technology and fully went with incorporating it.
That’s the thing about technological trends. Until they aren’t incorporated by mainstream providers, it’s hard to make them mainstream themselves. And with Galaxy Fold, Samsung did just that. Sure, there were some screen problems with the initial device, but the second release was more stable.
This is the reason why the year 2020 will be so exciting for foldable phones. Samsung paved the way for other companies, and now it’s up to them to live up to the customers’ expectations. Unfortunately to Apple customers, this isn’t the trend they’ll be seeing from their company, at least that’s what predictions say.
This year, we’ll be seeing a new foldable device from Microsoft which will be called Surface Duo. It’s already announced with some vague details, one clear detail being that it is clearly foldable. The device is expected to hit the market in the fall of 2020.
The development of the lithium-ion battery was truly a revolutionary moment in the tech industry, not just for smartphones, but other devices as well. It finally made it possible to use one battery for a prolonged period of time without the need to replace it every single time it dropped to zero. In fact, it was so revolutionary that the three scientists, who developed this model, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2019.
But it’s not to say lithium-ion batteries don’t have their own shortcomings. For starters, it’s quite time-consuming to fully recharge these batteries. And while we’ve seen a surge in fast-charging batteries, they’re still not quick enough. Besides, after some time, the lithium-ion batteries age, reducing in the overall capacity.
There are some rumours that suggest that from as soon as 2020 or the next year, Samsung might be introducing a new model with graphene battery technology in it. According to Evan Blass, one of the most popular predictors of changes in smartphones, the lithium-ion batteries are “suboptimal”, that’s why Samsung is trying to create at least one model featuring the graphene battery. With it, the phone will charge much faster and will have a bigger capacity overall.
2020 will be a year of changes in the smartphone industry. We’ll witness this change through faster cellular connections of 5G, increased screen sizes through foldable phones, and increased battery health through graphene batteries.
Apart from these highlights, we’ll be seeing some changes in other areas as well. For example, the AI and AR capabilities will increase significantly, there will be even higher growth to the industry thanks to the revenues generated, the new phones will have some comprehensive cyber defence systems built into their system, etc. The trick is not to get lost in this sea of changes and go through it as calmly as possible.
