Have smartphones plateaued ?

[Tig Bitties]

I think smartphones have plateaued. The iPhone 5 and Nexus 4, and Nokia Lumia 920, pretty much all do the same thing very good at the end of the day. Each phone, can text, e-mail, surf the web, give you GPS navigation, pretty much the same.

Sure us hardcore nerds can spot the differences in each OS, but to the average smartphone user, there truly isn't radical difference between each of the three top OS's.

What else can truly be done on a smartphone that isn't being done already, by any of the big 3 ? Sure they will get faster, thinner, better screens, etc...but to me all smartphones seem to have reached a limit.

An iPhone 5 or Nexus 4, can do pretty much anything right now. What would a iPhone 6 or Nexus 5 really add to the game, over the current phones ? What's the next major breakthrough that none of these phones have yet ?

 

[dkersten]

I think the smartphone market goes through cycles of extreme growth and then a plateau period. We are right now in a plateau period. I feel the next big things to happen to the smartphone are as follows:

-Touch screen technology (http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-12/12/senseg-preview)
-Battery technology. Like a week on a single charge
-Wireless technology involving bluetooth, NFC, wireless charging. Check out this video for some ideas. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hSAYrHQCMo Your phone will be the central hub.

I can't wait to see what the smartphone evolves into in the next decade or so!

 

[maflynn]

I think at the moment there's not much else they can throw in there, so in a sense yeah it has plateaued. That will change when technology changes and provides more options for companies to innovate. I'm sure there's still a lot apple, samsung, htc, etc can do to extend their product but the low hanging fruit has already been plucked and so they need to work harder at making things better

 

[thejadedmonkey]

Now that WP8 is on the same kernel and (largely) the same API as Windows 8, I think the next version of WP and Windows Metro will be much closer together. As in you can dock your phone to your desk and use your touchscreen monitor, mouse, and keyboard, but run everything off of your phone.

Give it 2 years. Three if we're unlucky.

 

[Awakener]

I think the smartphone market goes through cycles of extreme growth and then a plateau period. We are right now in a plateau period. I feel the next big things to happen to the smartphone are as follows:

-Touch screen technology (http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-12/12/senseg-preview)
-Battery technology. Like a week on a single charge
-Wireless technology involving bluetooth, NFC, wireless charging. Check out this video for some ideas. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hSAYrHQCMo Your phone will be the central hub.

I can't wait to see what the smartphone evolves into in the next decade or so!

These are are all nice features, but nothing compared to what's already been done. What matters is already here, now it's just tweaking.

 

[Dr McKay]

Unless smartphones suddenly start taking a new form factor like when they went from old style phones with a tiny screen and a physical numberpad to how they went now, all I forsee is improvements.

 

[Tig Bitties]

I understand the next couple of years, will just be more of the same; thinner, faster, better screens, etc...

But what do you see like next decade ? What will an iPhone 9 or Nexus 11 look like and operate in the year 2020 ?

 

[kdarling]

One future item could be flexible screens that convert phones to tablets.

Samsung just showed off a couple of cool concept phones in the following video. I'm in love with the first one. Sign me up!

 

[TacticalDesire]

I'm expecting my Nexus 4 to last me a solid 2-3 years. There isn't much more I want in a smartphone and I don't really demand a lot from a phone. Most of my needs have now been met thanks to hardware and iOS and Android improvements. The next step I'd like to see is better battery technology.

 

[Tig Bitties]

And when will Thinner & Lighter stop being a marketing tool ? How frigging thin and light do we need our phones to be ? Do you want a paper thin phone, light as a feather ? I don't. I'll take thicker with a battery that lasts a week, over credit card thin smartphone.

 

[Fireblade]

The iPhone 9 has allready been shown.

 

[dkersten]

These are are all nice features, but nothing compared to what's already been done. What matters is already here, now it's just tweaking.

I disagree. I think wireless technology involving phones as the hub to be even bigger than non touchscreen phones to modern day smartphones. The integration will be in literally everything from tables, to cars, to everything you can imagine. NFC/bluetooth technologies and wireless charging will be the backbone of all this

 

[Awakener]

I disagree. I think wireless technology involving phones as the hub to be even bigger than non touchscreen phones to modern day smartphones. The integration will be in literally everything from tables, to cars, to everything you can imagine. NFC/bluetooth technologies and wireless charging will be the backbone of all this

Sounds like improvements of current technology. Other than connecting the phone in the brain, what else is there?

 

[Apple OC]

What else can truly be done on a smartphone that isn't being done already, by any of the big 3 ? Sure they will get faster, thinner, better screens, etc...but to me all smartphones seem to have reached a limit.

who would have thought cars would drive themselves?

 

[jrswizzle]

The iPhone 9 has allready been shown.Image

Very original....

 

[Tig Bitties]

The next decade, do you see the handheld smartphone device itself going away ? Maybe moving to devices like the Google glasses, where you don't have to actually hold the device, you wear it instead ?

And in the far future, for sure the smartphone handheld device will disappear, and will be surgically implanted into our bodies, no joke. But that's like maybe 25 - 50 years away. people don't like to admit this, but in the far future, humans will become part robotic, with technology incorporated into our bodies. But that's a century or more away.

 

[Stooby Mcdoobie]

... and will be surgically implanted into our bodies, no joke. But that's like maybe 25 - 50 years away. people don't like to admit this, but in the far future, humans will become part robotic, with technology incorporated into our bodies. But that's a century or more away.

You've been watching too many movies.

 

[Tig Bitties]

You've been watching too many movies.

Trust me, that will be coming. Not in our lifetime, but in one hundred years for sure. Humans will have technology incorporated into their bodies. Nano tech robots in our blood stream protecting us from disease, better electronic eyes, new robotic limbs for people who lose an arm or leg in an accident or war.

 

[mrsir2009]

The next steps will have to be big ones, like radical new ways of powering mobile devices, so that they don’t have to be recharged. It’s pretty far fetched stuff, but for the big three it’s now a race to see who can pull off the next big thing successfully. No doubt they’ve had secret teams working on far out stuff for years now.

----------

Very original....

I could understand if Apple had made the screen taller several times...

 

[jrswizzle]

I could understand if Apple had made the screen taller several times...

Ya - they did the insane thing of making a 4" phone with a 16:9 aspect ratio *gasp* CRAZY.....

 

[Spungoflex]

Now that WP8 is on the same kernel and (largely) the same API as Windows 8, I think the next version of WP and Windows Metro will be much closer together. As in you can dock your phone to your desk and use your touchscreen monitor, mouse, and keyboard, but run everything off of your phone.

Give it 2 years. Three if we're unlucky.

I think you are right. The power of a full PC in your pocket.

Anyone who thinks technology has reached its limit is insane. It's growing faster and faster.

 

[Tig Bitties]

I think you are right. The power of a full PC in your pocket.

Anyone who thinks technology has reached its limit is insane. It's growing faster and faster.

It seems to have hit a slow down temporarily at least ? Look at the Galaxy Nexus vs Nexus 4, barely that much different at the end of the day. Same with the iPhone 5 vs iPhone 4S, not radically different. Yes to us nerds we see the extreme minor details and changes, and see a big upgrade. But to the average Joe Blow, 2012 phones vs 2011 phones, are really not much different at all, a 2011 phone will still text, e-mail, give you GPS, and surf the web, exactly the same as a new 2012 phone.

 

[vikingjunior]

The iPhone 9 has allready been shown.Image

That is funny!

 

[Spungoflex]

Trust me, that will be coming. Not in our lifetime, but in one hundred years for sure. Humans will have technology incorporated into their bodies. Nano tech robots in our blood stream protecting us from disease, better electronic eyes, new robotic limbs for people who lose an arm or leg in an accident or war.

100 years? The widespread adoption of nano technology is only maybe a decade away. Humans with technology in their bodies is already here.

Nanoparticles that can directly attack cancer cells are being developed now. Not 100 years from now.

http://www.understandingnano.com/medicine.html

 

[Tig Bitties]

100 years? The widespread adoption of nano technology is only maybe a decade away. Humans with technology in their bodies is already here.

Nanoparticles that can directly attack cancer cells are being developed now. Not 100 years from now.

http://www.understandingnano.com/medicine.html

Cool, bring it on in my lifetime, I am ready to be immortal