What Will Replace Smartphones? Future Tech by 2030

What will replace smartphones in the future?

Today, smartphones are an integral part of daily life. Many people in the 21st century feel lost without their phones. After all, we do not just use smart devices to make calls or send messages. The phone has long become a tool for both work and entertainment.

However, this could soon change. According to Nokia CEO Pekka Lundmark, the smartphone may no longer be the most popular communication device by 2030. This technology could be replaced by something that might still be difficult to comprehend today.

Predictions suggest that instead of a smart device, we will simply implant communication tools directly into our bodies [1].

The head of the Finnish telecommunications company, founded in 1865, spoke about this while participating in World Economic Forum discussions in Davos, Switzerland. However, discussions about what the mobile devices that changed so many lives will look like in the future have been ongoing for some time.

The evolution of these technologies is immense: about 10 years ago, no one could have imagined how highly developed the smartphone industry would become. Similarly, it is difficult to guess what kind of devices we will use in the future. Perhaps we will return to simplicity, or perhaps communication tools will truly become a physical part of us?

Phone evolution is tied to the internet

Lundmark's predictions at the World Economic Forum are certainly intriguing. According to him, mobile phone technologies are changing rapidly, so by 2030, the smartphone as we know it today will definitely no longer be the most common communication tool.

The idea that some communication technologies could be embedded directly into our bodies can be both fascinating and unsettling. However, according to the Nokia executive, a host of changes will have to occur before smartphones are implanted directly into the human body.

For example, we will start using devices that pair with smartphones, such as virtual reality glasses. On the other hand, such shifts require more than what technology can offer today.

According to Lundmark, the most important factor is for 6G connectivity to become commonplace. This could be expected around 2030.

"For those interested, I will say that currently, the exact definition of 6G is not clear because the world is still dealing with 5G. It is a controversial technology, and we do not yet know its negative consequences. Smart knowledge systems will be combined with robust computing capabilities to make humans incredibly efficient and redefine how we live, work, and care for the planet," Lundmark states.

Back in 2019, when the world took a step forward and transitioned to 5G, there were speculations that it would fundamentally change future technologies. Now, as we discuss 6G and its future, it is believed that we will be able to abandon some technologies entirely.

According to Lundmark, we will experience the expansion of "industrial virtuality" in the future:

"We will have physical and digital worlds that will be almost exact replicas of each other."

However, 6G is still only in its early stages of development: currently, there is not even a standard definition for 6G networks [2].

The transformations being discussed would require massive changes. Transitioning to the 6G standard would demand more resources: it would require networks hundreds or even thousands of times faster than 5G. Furthermore, countries like India are only just now awaiting 5G expansion [3].

A future where tattoos are what will replace cell phones?

Predictions about what kind of phones we will use in the future have been made before. In 2017, it was claimed that smartphones would disappear within five years. At the time, it was thought that devices like the Amazon Echo speaker or Google Home, as well as new wearables and home robots, would multiply [4].

Although the predictions came true and the popularity of these devices grew, we still do not have a definitive answer for what will replace smartphones.

By 2022, mobile phones had become almost an extension of ourselves. About 80% of the global population owns a mobile phone, and more than a billion of those are smart devices [5]. We look at our phones an average of 150 times a day, and some people experience panic attacks if they accidentally forget to take their phone with them.

While the pace of mobile phone development seems to have slowed down recently, and newly introduced devices often look identical, predictions for the future sound ambitious.

Some experts predict that phones will become like remote controls for our lives. Others believe that we will be able to replace phones with smartwatches and glasses.

Furthermore, the goal is to make devices even more essential to us. It is believed that in the near future, artificial intelligence in our phones could even understand our emotions. The device could act as a psychologist: cheering us up or offering advice. Huawei is already working on this.

It is believed that by 2030, smartphones could also feature holographic display technologies capable of rendering 3D images or videos hovering above the device.

Meanwhile, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates recently stated that electronic tattoos will be the new device to replace phones. These would be microchips printed on a patch applied to the skin to monitor and collect personal information, such as medical or physical activity data [6].

Of course, all of this is just a prediction. As we look toward 2030 and beyond, much can change. Will smartphones ever go away? Only time will tell.