Over the past decade, smartphones have undergone significant advancements and true breakthroughs. We have moved from the era of black-and-white screens to high-resolution displays, whether HD, Full HD, and finally, Quad HD. Smartphones have surpassed the limitations of basic tasks, ushering in an era where they have become substitutes for digital cameras, multimedia devices, and even radios. For some, smartphones now represent an alternative to desktop and laptop computers.

Scientifically, it is currently difficult to eliminate smartphones or replace them with other devices because all modern devices and accessories consider smartphones their central servers, providing services like headphones, screens, glasses, and the Internet of Things. According to a study published by Time magazine, the average user checks their smartphone approximately 46 times a day. Moreover, the term “Nomophobia,” which describes the fear of losing one’s phone, has emerged to describe a psychological state that people in this era may experience.

Practically, smartphones will disappear one day just as fax machines, landlines, pagers, and beepers have before them. However, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Who but the tech giants like Google, Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, and countless startups will lay the groundwork for this journey?

But what will our world look like without smartphones? And what will be the alternative to these technologies?

We will explore this future in terms of:

• Hardware
• Software
• Humanware

When Steve Jobs announced the launch of the iPhone, ushering in a new era of smartphones with groundbreaking features and specifications, he captivated the world, revolutionizing and transforming it in a creative and innovative way. Without a doubt, these devices, with their small size, portability, powerful processors, large storage capacities, high-resolution cameras, clear sound, sensitive sensors, abundant applications, and ease of use, have taken the throne of the tech world, displacing the era of laptops, desktops, and traditional communication devices.

But what if we looked at smartphones from a different perspective? A desktop or laptop computer consists of a mouse, keyboard, screen, and other components. The smartphone has adopted the same model, miniaturizing it and making touch the primary input method.

In terms of Hardware:

• The emergence of phones in new forms, such as wristbands or chips implanted under the skin, performing the functions of a mobile phone and introducing highly innovative designs.
• Displaying screen content on glasses, walls, smooth surfaces, and the palm and forearm.
• Telecom service providers will lose their authority to software developers and tech companies.
• Communication will be through global networks without a SIM card, using just an account with companies like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft.
• Modern devices will rely on future technologies such as nanotechnology and artificial intelligence.
• These phones will be designed to order due to the affordability and advancement of technology.
• Increased use of the Internet of Things for connectivity in all fields, from cars to airplanes.
• Announcements of giant companies in this modern industry achieving amazing innovations.
• Devices will be made from stronger, lighter materials of high quality.
• 3D cameras will invade modern devices with multiple cameras, high accuracy, and powerful zoom capabilities.
• Modern devices will be equipped with eye-print technology.
• Phones will be foldable.
• Unbreakable devices.
• Phones with no internal or external memory, relying only on cloud storage.
• A new innovation in storage capacity with a memory chip of 1 terabyte (1 terabyte = 1000 gigabytes) developed by researchers at Rice University, named RRAM. This memory chip is no larger than a postage stamp and is about 100 times faster than the currently popular SSDs.
• Ultra-fast speeds, approximately 10 times faster than they are now.

In terms of Software:

• The emergence of new operating systems to keep pace with modern developments, such as Google’s Fuchsia OS, and the update of older systems.
• Increased support for HTML5 on screens, allowing new development companies to enter and creating compatibility with all operating systems and lower costs.
• The focus will be on micro-apps, also known as Bots, which work within certain apps like Facebook Messenger, enabling users to fulfill their needs while chatting without leaving the app.
• The emergence of applications that communicate through thoughts and exchange ideas.
• Callers will be able to connect in any language, and to any language.
• Significant advancements in writing, voice, and image applications.
• There will be a significant demand for information.
• A new unique identifier will emerge, similar to an email, which will be the primary number used in all technical and life interactions.
• Increased reliance on applications.
• The emergence of medical applications that facilitate patient monitoring.
• Applications that allow users to smell and possibly taste.
• Increased use of new browsers like Facebook, Twitter, and social media apps, which people now live by.

In terms of Users:

• Users will rely on artificial intelligence technologies to interact with modern devices.
• Voice will have multiple uses, from fingerprints to writing, inputs, and commands.
• Increased use of phones as platforms for social media.
• Increased use of modern phones for video and related applications, especially 3D and up to 6D.
• Increased use of phones in the medical field, turning them into miniature clinics with all medical devices.
• Increased use of phones in education, making them an educational platform for students at all levels, from kindergarten to university and graduate studies.
• Phones will be gaming platforms for 3D games and virtual reality games.
• Phones will be used to open, operate, and request driverless cars.
• Phones will be the main means of payment, replacing cards and traditional money.
• Battery life will last for a week, and in some cases, for a month or more.

The idea of merging computers with humans is frightening in itself, without the need for science fiction books, tech experts, or philosophers to question what makes us human in the first place. At the same time, it is a novel concept for reality (even though it has been proposed in science fiction films) to the extent that no one knows what the world will look like when it is applied. Therefore, when smartphones die, it will mark the end of an era in more ways than one. It will be the end of devices that accompany us and the beginning of something that connects directly to our bodies with a flow of digital data, making the situation extremely strange.

Finally, we have discussed what smartphones and their future might look like without exaggeration or fantasy, but based on scientific and practical foundations from research centers of companies and in accordance with the laws of physics, chemistry, and mathematics. Now it’s your turn, dear reader, to imagine with us what your smartphone will be like in the future! So, let your imagination run wild and dive into your thoughts, wondering how our phones and communications will be in the future?