What will mobile phones look like in the future

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. You've seen the experimental pictures of transparent smart phones, or even holographic smartphones online, and they seem a little silly. However, with time, smartphones could progress beyond our imagination. With the progression and integration of AI, and the ever growing need for information sharing, smartphones are becoming more and more of an intrinsic part of our lives, and they could prove to be more of a blessing than a curse in the future.

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. Smartphones of the future may not be smartphones at all. These devices may take on a whole new form factor, which will enable us to perform the same tasks as smartphones do today — and more.

I see a future where smartphones in their current form get replaced by what look like regular glasses. My version of futuristic glasses would let you make and receive calls. The glasses would use bone conduction technology or something even more high-tech. All these things could also be displayed in front of your eyes using AR technology. Of course, the glasses would feature a camera on board. Or Fik-Shun dancing.

Or porn. The experience would be extremely immersive. Well, that depends on how phone companies navigate the next few years.

So if the next few years brings foldable phones that are affordable and, more importantly, vital for certain functions, people will leap on board. One of biggest differentiating features between different smartphones nowadays is the front-facing camera — does your phone have a big notch like an iPhone, a teardrop notch like plenty of phones use, a punch-hole cut-out like many Samsung phones, a pop-up like several companies have embraced, or something else entirely?

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.

Are you looking for a mobile phone for your child? Take a look at the best phones for children. Companies are always looking to make their products more environmentally friendly, and phone makers are no exception, with researchers looking into biodegradable materials and cleaner energy charging. At the Mobile World Congress trade show in , Kyocera showcased a solar-powered prototype.

Still, the company claims that three minutes of sunshine will give you enough charge for a one-minute phone call, which could provide users with an emergency charging option if their mobile dies far from home. Another concept phone promising a green alternative to electrical charging is the Mechanical Mobile prototype by Mikhail Stawsky. Unlike the solar powered prototypes, the Mechanical Mobile runs on kinetic energy.

The idea behind the design is that you spin it round on your finger to charge it up. The obvious benefit of this, besides helping the environment, is that you could charge this phone pretty much anywhere.

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.