Mobile Phones will dominate the world in next years
1. Storage
Sandisk recently launched a microSD card with 200GB capacity. Most smartphones rely on brands like Sandisk for their SSD/flash memory, so watching developments and new products from these manufacturers delivers an insight into future storage trends. In the next 5 years the nano-scale manufacturing process which are currently being developed will further improve the capacity of micro storage and enhanced connectivity will further drive cloud based backup and remote storage solutions. By 2020 it should be possible to cost effectively deliver 1TB of local storage in a mobile device with unlimited cloud based storage
2. Battery
The current achilles heel of every smartphone/tablet is limited battery life – particularly if you are using them for processor intensive activities like shooting 4K or editing. Battery technology however is benefitting from a boom in research and development investment. Companies like TESLA are driving all other car manufacturers to offer all electric vehicle solutions and that future demand is in turn driving even more research into advanced energy solutions. A recent report on EV market growth indicated a 300% growth to over 3million vehicle sales globally by 2021. That will place huge demands on battery manufacturers to develop and deliver more efficient battery technology – principally to overcome “range anxiety”. The smart device industry will benefit in kind from these developments.
3. Camera
Every year at Mobile World congress Imaging Sensor manufacturers deliver the latest breakthroughs in Image sensor quality. If you take the combination of currently available multi camera solutions like the LIGHT camera and lightfield technology like the LYTRO and combine it with the continued evolution of core image sensors it is feasible that by 2021 smartphones could easily be equipped with 50Megapixels sensors shooting UHD4K video as standard (without the current limitations of storage and battery issues) Still Images will be near DSLR quality and continued development of Apple’s Lightning based MFI programme and expansion of the USB OTG standard for Android devices will mean that external camera modules will be the solution to overcome optical image magnification issue. Devices like the DXO One, Flir One, Seek Thermal camera and the Insta360 Nano indicate that the “Add On” camera module market has huge potential going forward offering diverse solutions for different markets.
4. Screen Resolution
Apple has had “Retina Display” screens on some of its mobile devices for a number of years now. Retina Display refers to devices and monitors that have a resolution and pixel density so high – roughly 300 or more pixels per inch – that a person is unable to discern the individual pixels at a normal viewing distance. The key part of that description is NORMAL VIEWING DISTANCE. What is guaranteed to change over the next 5 years is the normal viewing distance of your mobile. Consider if you will, what happens when you put your mobile device into a VR Viewer like Google Cardboard. The two lenses magnify the screen to give you a limited field of view which create the effect of a sterescopic image. They also magnify the pixels meaning that current viewing experiences are pretty poor. Now consider the fact that Sony has already released a 4K resolution smartphone (the Xperia Z5 Premium) with 806PPI (thats more than double Retina Display) but it means that the pixel density is so dense that even when magnified in a VR Viewer the dots should be substantially less noticeable leading to a much more immersive and higher quality VR experience. Also, for the time being neither Youtube or Netflix offer 4K streams to smartphones- why would they? The bandwidth is not there over 3G and even if it were over Wifi there is no phone (other than the Xperia Z5) which can view the content at full res. However if you take the other driving forces mentioned (Storage, Optics, Battery, 5G and codecs) you will see that by 2021 4K or higher will be an absolutely viable platform for mobile.
5. 360 Photos and Videos
6. Augmented Reality (AR)
Augmented Reality or AR is a term that refers to technology that superimposes computer-generated content over live images viewed through cameras. The technology, which has been used in gaming and in military applications on computers, has been around for years. But thanks to more sophisticated devices, faster wireless broadband networks, and new developments at the chip level by companies like Qualcomm, it has become inexpensive enough to put into smartphones and tablets.
It will be a new wave of innovation in the mobile market will bring augmented reality to smartphones, allowing users to interact virtually with their surroundings. You will have the ability to see what you want in more enhanced and live way using this technology.
7. Virtual Reality (VR)
Virtual reality is a computer-generated environment that lets you experience a different reality. A VR headset fits around your head and over your eyes, and visually separates you from whatever space you're physically occupying. Images are fed to your eyes from two small lenses. Through VR you can virtually hike the Grand Canyon, tour the Louvre, experience a movie as if you are part of it, and immerse yourself in a video game without leaving your couch.
Mobile VR is big business. Google has gone all-in on it and there are some great VR headsets that work with the iPhone as well.
Premium VR, such as the HTC Vive or PlayStation VR, comes at a cost – but that doesn't mean you can't get in on the virtual reality action for a fraction of the price.
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