Mobile World Congress 2018 concluded in March in Barcelona, and all the buzz was about the future technology of mobile phones. Mobiles technology has made a slow and steady up gradation in its technology but none seem to have touched the future to an extent where they can be called avante garde of mobile tech. Mobiles phones are evolving slowly but on surface there does not seem a huge change. Even the platforms i.e. ios and android have been upgrading the icons and look for the users but there is lot more to be delivered. This time the MWC 2018 even saw it going back in time with relaunch of Nokia 3310. Anyway, all the mobiles cannot be judged based on the looks on surface, there has been few commendable changes and many more future tech upcoming for mobiles in near future, which will change the way we see or use our mobile.

Based on the ongoing research and emerging technology, here are five predictions for the future technology of mobile phones which we might see in Mobile World Congress in 2020, 2022 or 2030. Out of these 5 predictions, two predictions can be manifested in late 2018 and early 2019.

1. Your mobile will be flexible, foldable and more durable

Most probably in few months foldable mobiles will in your pocket and might become unbreakable. If reports of CNBC to be believed, Samsung is going to unveil a bendable and foldable mobile at Samsung’s developer conference in November, as per Samsung CEO DJ Koh.

Experiments and research is going on to strengthen the glass used for smartphone screen and breakthrough is there in form of sapphire glass used on some wearable. Experiment on self-healing screens and durable material is under consideration with graphene glass leading the way. This MWC 2018 had an entire space dedicated to discussions and demonstration for this material only and how it will transform the mobile screen completely.

2. Gone will be the days when you recognized your mobile, now mobile will recognize you.

Mobile are now the most common thing that get lost. Manufacturers have been trying very hard to beef up the security to such an extent that on the device, that it becomes useless for thieves and in case of others the finders should not be keepers but finders find the owner of device. Feature like fingerprint or iris scanners are now hackable, so new security methods are being evaluated.

Facial recognition technology also failed in early experiments as the same can be fooled by using photograph of the user. Work on facial technology is underway which now also scans the contours of a person’s face and head making it even more robust.

Even more promising is that it will recognize you on basis of your walking movement, the tone of your voice which would render it impossible for other to breakthrough this feature (except otherwise any 6 of your duplicates around the World find your mobile! LOL)

3. Charger will be a thing of past, if not, then rarely required.

Most complaints by users is the Battery life on mobile devices. Every new launch sees an improved battery but the performance is never ever been satisfactory enough for the users. Not only the battery capacity is increasing but the processors are also becoming faster thereby draining the battery sooner. Not to forget the exploding batteries of Samsung mobiles.

Experiments with a variety of possible solutions is ongoing, same as for battery-powered cars e.g. TESLA, Audi coming up with battery powered cars. Possible replacement can be nanobatteries, hydrogen fuel cells, solar power and most promising being kinetic energy — meaning your phone will charge as you move around. Charge your phone while your jog.

Wireless charging is already there for quite sometimes and charging ports in mobile may soon become extinct like pagers in near future. Even better IKEA had already announced its plans to start building wireless charging stations into home decor way back in 2015.

4. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality on your mobile.

Imagine you try your clothes on your mobile even before you buy it, no hassle to go to the physical store or you are planning to buy a furniture for your home but even before buying take snap of space at your home and fill the furniture you want to buy.

Augmented Reality(AR) and Virtual Reality(VR) are now not very uncommon terminology.

Augmented reality is already making waves in the gaming world. It will hit the mobile tech too, also the healthcare, retail is also adopting AR. Mobile manufacturers have already taken a step ahead by releasing AR toolkits for mobile app development. Pokemon Go is a small example of gaming on mobile.

This technology already tested in Sony mobiles as well as few new mobiles which have made your mobile camera work like something it has never worked before. More research is going on to make use of this technology for holographic images for personal and professional use. Although it will not be in the market unless it becomes inexpensive.

VR apps and lenses/VR boxes are already in the market with more and more improvement day by day.

5. No screen, only Virtual assistants

Mobile has made big change especially in terms of its screen, slowly the screen size is increasing and the body disappearing. E.g. bezel-less mobiles. Edges, corners, buttons everything is disappearing and soon even homepage button will disappear and mobile will only be screen and nothing attached.

The interface will be Virtual assistants helping you navigate your phone and apps, personalizing your home screen based on your patterns. Google Assistant, Alexa all are one step closer to the same and do give you a feel of where we will be moving in near future.

Changes do happen it is just we fail to notice them. What your mobile will look like in say 2020 or 2022? Surely these techs will be incorporated fully in your mobile by then, but you never know with the pace tech is changing, disruption is very much possible and maybe much sooner.