When I think about the next technological breakthrough in this area — decades away — I envision stretchable phones. Read more: Foldable phones with flexible displays — Here are the ones we know about so far. This type of design would let you quickly increase the size of the device when watching videos and make it smaller to fit in your pocket. For it to work, the vast majority of components would have to be stretchable, not just the display.
Obviously, there would be a limit to how far you can stretch a device. If that limit was 50 percent of the size of a phone, for example, it would mean you could transform a 6-inch display into a 9-inch one.
Samsung announced a prototype of a stretchable display in which can be dented up to 12mm without causing damage — shown in the image above. Engineering researchers at Michigan State University have also developed the first stretchable integrated circuit and see a future for stretchable electronics.
In addition to making phones larger or smaller, stretchable displays would also add a new dimension to things like gaming and watching videos. Imagine playing a first-person shooter game and the display flexing out while someone is shooting at you — the experience could be a lot more immersive. Phones come in a variety of colors and choosing the best one can often be a struggle. Red, green, or purple colorways stand out more, but can give devices a toyish, less professional look.
With smartphones of the future, you may not have to choose anymore. Imagine a phone with a completely transparent back made from a glass-like material that fully absorbs light. The device would have one or more LED lights inside, the color of which you could change in the settings of the phone or maybe with your mind! When you choose orange, the entire back cover would completely absorb the color of the light and look exactly the same, almost as if it were painted on.
The feature could also have a mode to change the color automatically on a daily basis. With a few LED lights inside properly positioned, you could also create gradient colors, like what the Huawei P30 Pro has.
Unlike glass phones today, it would also be resistant to fingerprints. It also lets me read outside, under direct sunlight. This is more or less impossible with OLED displays. The smartphones of the future I envision would combine OLED and e-ink technology into one, likely killing dedicated e-readers. With a simple tap in the settings, you could transform an OLED display into an e-ink screen for reading books, articles, and various documents without all that light shining into your face.
An e-ink display is also a lot less power hungry, which could mean longer battery life. Unfortunately, something like this is impossible at this point. With an eSIM, you don't need to go to the store to switch phone networks, or wait days or weeks to be sent a new SIM card. You can switch networks quickly, on your phone, without any frustrating complications.
OLED stands for organic light-emitting diode. They use flexible sheets of material to emit light. E-ink, on the other hand, is essentially just a type of electronic display that mimics the look of ink on paper. E-ink is generally a lot more basic than OLED, however, combining these two technologies could make it much easier to use your phone for multiple functions. OLED, for example, is great for watching videos on your phone. However, it's not so great for reading.
But E-ink is great for reading, allowing for easy and clear reading even in direct sunlight, which OLED displays cannot do. Because of this, some are now considering the possibility of combining OLED and E-ink into one to accommodate for an array of different functions. This could lead to longer battery life, given that using your phone with the E-ink option turned on would use significantly less electricity than using an OLED display.
While this display combination seems super convenient, it hasn't actually been done yet, as we simply don't have the technology to make it possible.
However, it certainly is an exciting concept, and could become the norm in future smartphones. Given how rapidly technology is advancing every year, there's really no telling what smartphones will look like in a decade. So what about the camera itself? Towards the end of , we've seen a few smartphones use two front-facers, one to take a picture and a secondary snapper for depth sensing, for more accurate background blur. Many phones are dropping the 3. More uncertain is the presence of a USB port to plug your phone into a computer or charger.
In that way, it echoes the use of wireless headphones, and in portless smartphones could be the new normal. For most of us nowadays though, this sentiment applies to our smartphone. So, why not have a phone that you can interact with on a whole new level? Back in , Julius Tarng designed the Modai, a modular handset aiming to turn your smartphone into your best friend. This companion device was inspired by human behaviours and designed to help users bond with it physically and emotionally.
The Modai phone would greet you in the morning, and keep silent at night, and would adapt to different situations in much the same way a human would. So if you overslept, it would create a faster route to work using its GPS, or if you visited a new place, it would recommend stuff to do. The Modai also had a special avatar to represent your mood, which would have made emojis seem significantly less exciting had this phone ever made it to market.
One of the other cool features of the Modai was that it included two different paradigms to help you keep your work life and social life separate. The Prodai would display your work schedules, emails and projects, while the Fundai was all about social media, texting and games, eliminating the need for a separate work phone. The thinking behind the modular phone was that the Modai could be upgraded with new hardware, such as batteries and better cameras, so your Modai could be updated without you ever having to part with your BPF Best Phone Forever.
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Catherine Hiley - Last updated: 07 December
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