What comes after the smartphone? The GIGA editorial team thinks so

The end of classic smartphones has often been conjured up. But what’s up with that? We asked our editors how they see the future of smartphones – surprisingly conservative.

From smartphone to “augmented” reality?

While some companies are trying to further develop the form factor of smartphones – Samsung, for example, with the foldables of the Galaxy Z series – others, according to insiders, are working on completely new visions of the future. Apple, for example, is said to have been working on mixed reality headsets for years, which should eventually replace the iPhone.

What does that look like in the end? The rumors describe models that are reminiscent of either existing VR headsets or augmented reality glasses like Google Glass – a project that flopped ten years ago. Oppo recently presented a product with “Air Glass” that hits this notch. With AR glasses, information can be displayed in the wearer’s field of vision without blocking the view. Some tasks could migrate relatively easily from the smartphone to the glasses. But is there anything that could completely replace the smartphone?

A smartphone-less future?

“The smartphone as we know it today will no longer be the most common interface.” – Pekka Lundmark, Nokia CEO

Others see a future in which smartphones will not have a successor in the strict sense: Nokia CEO Pekka Lundmark spoke at the Davos Economic Forum in summer 2022 about sensors that are “built directly into our bodies”. That’s not entirely absurd: companies like Elon Musk’s Neuralink are working on BCIs, brain-computer interfaces that can be inserted into the brain, with which technology can be remotely controlled.

Will everything stay the same?

Brain implants and AR glasses have one thing in common: at least currently, neither of them can be used as a direct replacement for a smartphone.

We asked our editors about their visions for the future, you can see the answers in the video above.