5 interesting predictions: What future smartphones could look like

With their sleek touchscreens, high-resolution cameras and sophisticated software functionalities, today’s smartphones are technical marvels. They have gone way past their original function of just making phone calls to being our browsing devices, gaming tools, cameras and even sources of entertainment. Can you imagine telling someone in 1999 about the modern smartphones? You would sound like you were describing a science fiction film.

However, what comes after that? What extraordinary characters will the future smartphones have? We consider here five revolutionary thoughts that may reimagine these gadgets.

1.Phones That Are Controlled by Your Mind

In the initial years of mobile telephone technology, there were physical keyboards as the main interface. Eventually these moved aside for touch screens and now voice assistants such as Siri and Google Assistant enable us to interact with our devices using verbal instructions. The next step forward? Mind control.

To think about opening applications, changing images or spending texts. This could be done by going beyond touch or voice input, where every aspect of the phone can be controlled instantly. For example, rather than trying to open an app clumsily, you would just concentrate your thoughts on it and it’s done in an instant.

Advancements are being made in this area although it may seem unrealistic. MIT has created a device called AlterEgo which enables users to communicate with machines using their thoughts. Similarly, researchers at the University of California recently used a brain-computer interface (BCI) to translate a woman’s thoughts into spoken words via an avatar. Although still at its infancy stage, these developments imply that smartphones controlled by mind might soon become real.

2. Over-the-Air Charging

Modern mobile devices are all limited by battery life. Even models like Galaxy S24 Ultra will require recharging after two days of use only. But with development of over-the-air charging technology in future these charging issues will be resolved forever on smartphones hence they will always remain fully charged in perpetuity.

Imagine a world where these transmitters are common as cell towers, always making sure that your devices do not run out of battery power regardless of where you are. This technology would eliminate the need for cables and charging pads, but it could also be used to power other gadgets like headphones, smartwatches, etc.

For instance, companies like Wi-Charge are already working on implementing similar ideas using infrared radiation to wirelessly charge devices within about 30 feet. Although the current applications may be limited in scope, this technology has a lot of potential for a wireless future.

3. Elastic Smartphones

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold and Motorola Razr have already disrupted the technology industry with foldable phones, but we might have a future where smartphones can be stretched. Imagine being able to pull a gadget at its edges and make the screen larger, just like pulling a rubber band.

With such a design, users can stretch their phones for video-viewing or gaming purposes and squeeze them back to fit into pockets when they are not in use. Stretchable displays are already under research by companies such as Samsung and LG; LG recently announced that it had developed an expanding display by 50%, whereas researchers from Stanford have come up with elastic integrated circuits which could make this idea come true.

Stretchy phones would change how not only we use smartphones but how we dive into content completely.

4. Phones with Colours You Can Change

Picking your phone’s colour can be tricky; the classic ones like black or white feel serious and dull, while the vibrant ones may seem too casual. What if this didn’t have to happen at all?

The next generation smartphones might have customisable casings that can change their colours. They will have light-emitting diode technologies and some light-absorbing materials so that users will simply need to adjust their settings for a new look on their phones. Imagine if the back cover of your phone were transparent enough to light up according to the shade you choose, either in a smooth transition from one hue to another or in bold solid colours.

Some early efforts towards these ideas are already underway. For instance, OnePlus displayed a prototype phone having a colour change back in 2020. Similarly, Vivo and Infinix have taken up dynamic designs. This does not mean however that these technologies are yet mainstream but indicate a future where you can match your phone’s colour with what you wear or how you feel like.

5. Dual OLED and E-Ink Displays

On the other hand, OLED screens are amazing for videos and gaming but can be hazardous for extended reading. Nevertheless, E-ink displays such as those in Kindle devices provide a more comfortable reading experience and consume much less power than their LCD counterparts so it is a plus (for) smart phones of tomorrow to incorporate both.

A hybrid OLED and E-ink display would permit users to switch between vibrant graphics and eye-friendly reading settings. This also has the potential to give far more life to batteries since E-ink technology is very energy-efficient. While this cannot be done at present by merging these technologies into one display, companies like Lenovo have designed gadgets that sport each of the two display types on different sides.

It will not take long for smartphone makers to develop smartphones with seamless transitions from OLED mode to e-ink mode hence making dedicated e-readers unnecessary because innovation never stops happening.

From mind control to over-the-air charging and stretchable screens, there are many possibilities that might shape the future of smartphones. Although these ideas may appear as science fiction today, they would have also seemed like a dream a few decades ago when touchscreen devices came into existence. As technology advances rapidly, these futuristic attributes may one day become as common as our current smartphones. Nobody can really tell what will be next or what is in store for them but definitely one thing; the future of smart phones will be anything but ordinary.