Smartphones: What’s Next?

Adapt or die! For smartphone makers, this immutable law of nature incentivizes innovation and forces continuous improvement as they seek new ways to make their great devices even greater. What’s next? Here are five awesome new smartphone features we’re likely to see in the near future.

1. Your Phone Will Bend and Fold

Samsung has long hinted it plans to release a phone that bends, and it seems like we may be seeing it sooner rather than later. Unofficially dubbed the “Galaxy F” (F is for foldable), D.J. Koh, the CEO of Samsung’s mobile business, said the phone will also double as a tablet with multitasking abilities. Need to hit the road? Fold it up and throw it in your pocket.

Even if we don’t call them phablets anymore, smartphones continue to get bigger. Unless pockets get bigger (and they’re already not big enough), there isn’t much more phone manufacturers can do to give us more screen size while on the go … until they offer a bendable, foldable smartphone, that is.

2. Your Phone Will Become Indestructible

There’s an old adage about bending but not breaking. Sure, your phone could bend, but what if it were impossible to break? Thanks to improvements in smartphone glass, it’s more difficult to scratch or crack your smartphone screen than ever before (remember #bendgate?). Apple wants to go one step further, though, by preventing scratches that can “ruin” an iPhone.

The iPhone XS is IP68 rated, which means it’s dust-proof and can survive in water up to two meters deep for half an hour. It also has the most scratch-resistant glass on an Apple device yet. But if Apple is able to take this next leap, you’ll be able to bring your iPhone anywhere and everywhere you go, without fear of cracks or scratches.

3. Your Phone Will Become Even More Secure

With the advent of fingerprint readers and technology like Face ID, your smartphone is incredibly tough for anyone who isn’t you to access it. Samsung wants to take this one step further, though, as a new patent suggests it’s looking to crack down on fake fingerprints and increase the overall level of security that your phone’s fingerprint reader provides.