With all the major phone manufacturers releasing similar-looking slabs of powerful electronics packed into a thin, touchscreen body, you could be forgiven for thinking that smartphone innovation has stalled but that's far from the case. Even if today's mobiles aren't changing all that much on the surface, there's still plenty of new technology on the way.
Better biometrics
We're used to Touch ID on iPhones and iPads now,
and fingerprint sensing is built into Android Marshmallow too, but there's much
more to come: Windows Hello lets you log into Windows smartphones using
advanced facial recognition (it can even tell the difference between sets of
twins) and phones with iris-scanning capabilities are just starting to make
their way onto the market too. By next year, scanning your retina to log into
your phone might be as commonplace as typing out a PIN.
USB Type-C
Already starting to appear but likely to be
ubiquitous by 2016 is the USB Type-C connection standard. As you might be able
to guess from the name, it's a more advanced form of USB it offers faster data
transfer, faster charging speeds, and the ability to multitask using the same
cable (so you could connect your phone to a high definition monitor at the same
time as charging it, for example). What's more, the cables and sockets are
reversible, so they fit from either end or any way up.
Intelligent apps
Both Apple and Google have announced that extra
features are coming to Siri and Google Now before the end of the year, and
Microsoft's Cortana continues to get regular updates as well. By 2016, these
personal digital assistants are going to be able to look deeper into
third-party apps, control more of a phone's settings, and understand more about
how we live our lives from the types of restaurant we like to the journeys we
regularly make on a Monday (or Tuesday or Sunday) morning.
Superior displays
Smartphone displays are one area where we continue
to see rapid improvements, with QHD resolutions (that's 1440 x 2560 pixels) now
common on flagship phones. Manufacturers are busy refining their processes and
materials, so by next year we might be welcoming in the era of WQXGA+ (3200 x
1800 pixel) screens. Scientists from the US have recently announced progress in
making LEDs brighter, clearer and more efficient as well soon even Apple's
Retina standard is going to look dated.
Longer-lasting batteries
Decent battery life continues to be a challenge for
even the latest and greatest handsets on the market, but help is on the way,
both in terms of how long smartphone batteries last and how quickly they can be
charged. Further improvements in chipset efficiency should improve battery life
as well, and you can expect to see wireless charging capabilities start to
become the norm for every handset out there.
Force Touch
Force Touch (where a touchscreen display registers
the pressure of your touch as well as its position and duration) is already a
feature of the Apple Watch and the latest MacBook, and it's a good bet that
it'll be included in the next iPhones too. It's also reasonable to assume that
other manufacturers will follow Apple's lead and integrate the technology into
their own screens, giving users more interactive and versatile displays.
Bendable handsets
Flexible screens and bendable handsets have been in
the pipeline for longer than you might realise, but no one's yet quite managed
to make the technology commercially viable. By next year that all could change.
Samsung and LG are two of the major manufacturers investigating the
possibilities Samsung has already built a prototype of a foldable tablet and
the curved LG Flex 2 shows the direction display technology is heading in.
Amazing cameras
There are probably few parts of your smartphone you
rely on more than its camera, and while there are some limitations imposed by
the thickness of modern-day handsets, the optics inside these cameras will
continue improving. Apple has also patented some swappable camera modules, so
you could attach upgrades to the basic snapper on your smartphone as and when
needed. Low light performance should continue to improve while optical image
stabilisation becomes standard.
Invisible waterproofing
There aren't too many phones you can carry on using
after a drop in the drink, though Sony's Xperia line and the newest Galaxy S6
do have some waterproofing features. Mobiles that can survive a dunk should
become much more commonplace thanks to the emergence of hydrophobic coating
technology it's able to cover electronics in a microscopic layer of
water-resistant material, which means manufacturers don't have to block every
port with unsightly plastic covers.
More sensors
You may think your smartphone already has a lot of
sensors installed, but there's plenty more to come: the smartphones of 2016 are
going to be better at sensing your energy levels, your heart rate, the oxygen
in your blood and even your mood, with or without an external wearable device to
refer to. We should also see more advanced atmospheric measurements being taken
by these handsets, giving you more accurate weather forecasts, air quality
readings and more.
Modular components
You may have already heard of Project Ara, Google's
experiment in modular phone technology due for launch in 2016, and there are
other similar products on the way too. The idea is you can configure a phone to
your exact specifications, focusing on the features you need most, and then
replace components individually (like the camera and battery) without having to
upgrade the whole phone each time. We should get our first taste of the modular
smartphone approach sometime next year.
Holographic projections
We're really getting into the realms of sci-fi now,
but phones with holographic projection capabilities aren't all that far off.
Samsung has already applied for a patent that projects 3D objects into the air
above your smartphone's screen, which suggests to us that 2016 could be the
year when the phone display extends beyond the actual display itself a
potential feature for the rumoured Galaxy S7 due next year, perhaps?
Console-like gaming
With innovations like Metal on iOS (here now) and
Vulkan on Android (coming soon), developers are able to get closer than ever to
the hardware their code runs on and that means faster, more complex games with
better graphics. Today's smartphones already run rings around the consoles of
yesteryear in terms of specifications and performance, and you can expect the
gap to narrow even further as 2016 progresses. We may not even need a
PlayStation 5 or Xbox Two.
Built-in virtual reality capabilities
You've probably come across some of the recent
virtual reality hype, and 2016 is the year when more consumer kit including the
Oculus Rift goes on sale. That should kickstart even more interest, and with
experiments like Google Cardboard and the Samsung Gear VR growing in scope,
it's reasonable to assume that a lot of the phones released next year are going
to have some virtual reality functions built in (even if you do need a separate
head strap to use them).
Laptop power
The idea of plugging a smartphone into a
laptop-like chassis and using it with a standard monitor and keyboard isn't a
new one, but no one's quite been able to make it work so far. With smartphones
becoming more powerful all the time, and companies like Apple, Google and
Microsoft developing desktop and mobile OSes alongside each other, 2016 could
well be the year that we finally get a phone-powered laptop.
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