What Happens to Smartphones: End of a Technology Cycle? Video
Just a moment before the Prime Day I propose a reflection, personal but shared with colleagues, on the world of smartphones, here it is: they have become boring. What actually saying “boring” is a big simplification that contains several other meanings, including “not very interesting”, “not very convenient”, “not very original”, “not very innovative”, “all the same”.
Up to now 2022 has been a disastrous year there are very few products that can be saved and mostly they are smartphones with a good value for money, by definition not exciting but convenient, or some premium-class meteor that, at the cost of a kidney, allows you to have some refinement compared at the top of the previous year’s range.
The market data speaks for itself and the excuse of the war in Ukraine or the chip crisis cannot work for everything. The open question that I ask you is: are we at the terminus of the technological paradigm? In the video you will find my answer.
WHAT IS WAITING FOR THE FUTURE?
Having expressed my thoughts in the video I don’t want to stretch the broth. I would rather focus on the future and on what could be the scenarios that await us.
There are no huge expectations from the next upcoming products, the new Folds should improve further across the board the previous models, but the rumors do not suggest big changes, the field of folding in any case remains in my opinion the most promising one in the short term, although the shape is still going to change but not the substance.
In this sense, Gabriele gave me some succulent confirmations on his return from his trip to the USA as a guest of the Motorola research centers. I can not tell you more than what he has already told (here also the video).
The other branch of development is concentrated on the photographic sector, but the feeling is that we have really reached the end of the line, the blanket is inevitably short, the physics is physical and if the cameras have a certain shape and certain dimensions it is certainly not by tradition. , but rather out of necessity.
Of course, AI algorithms can work wonders, but you still have to go through the narrow door of optics and sensors, which on smartphones is very narrow. It is not possible to invent a lot and the Sony Xperia 1 IV is the clear testimony of this. A smartphone that focuses on the first telephoto lens with progressive optical zoom between 85 mm and 125 mm equivalent but which clashes with the harsh reality of a complex innovation with an almost insignificant impact on everyday life.
By the way: our Xperia 1 IV had big problems with the photographic sector, especially with the variable zoom, comparing me with other colleagues the response was similar but we preferred to investigate the matter with Sony before going out with a review in which the evaluation would be been “not evaluable”. We’ll let you know.
WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE
Whether it’s foldable, with a super camera or instant charging, what I want in the future is one smartphone fully integrated with other technological devices and with the services I use.
In this direction more and more progress is being made, but often within a confined ecosystem. You cannot rent a car or a scooter without having 4-5 apps installed including fishing at the moment, ditto for recharging electric cars, for paying public transport tickets, some smartphones have their own wallet but then yes clashes with the obsolete systems of public affairs. Try showing your driver’s license on a digital wallet at a law enforcement check or your health card at the hospital.
I imagine a future in which to arrive at the office and place the smartphone on a dock to have your own virtual world in the workplace, perhaps through the recognition of an NFT associated with your company profile. In there will be everything, from the badge to the files, to the Windows / Mac profile with the programs I need. Or arrive at the hotel and frame a QR code on the TV to have my Netflix profile available without further fuss.
A sort of universal wallet, which can act as an identity card, passport, driving license, health card, credit card, which can contain profile information to make that terminal we have at home or in the office move as we please, or that we meet at the airport or on the high-speed train, or the sharing car or who knows what else, in the style of crypto wallets associated with physical wallets. All protected by biometric recognition, which perhaps is actually safe (not with the scan of the fingerprint to be clear).
