Losing Interest in Smart Phones

If you watched any of the announcements from MWC the past few days like me, you probably sensed a slight desperation from the manufacturers. LG was especially obvious as they presented the features of their new products in a cringe worthy way (on par with Samsung's attempt at their Broadway release).

LG even admitted that smartphones have become boring and they had to introduce these new "Friend" devices to make them exciting. Personally, I don't think the camera grip that add some battery life will be very useful. The LG Hi-Fi Plus (in partnership with Bang & Olufsen), dedicated DAC and Amp, is definitely something will interest obsessive music lovers. While LG states that other parties' can develop their own modules, I don't think many will because it's a proprietary port just for the LG G5, which is in a market dominated by Samsung and Apple. It's certainly something different.

Samsung released the S7 with improvements in every aspect you would expect with no surprises (battery, camera, waterproof). The Galaxy S7 will be the Android phone to get just because of the camera and solid build.

So, why are people using interests in smart phones?

The simple explanation is that most people can do anything they want to do already. In the last couple years, smartphone performance have exceeded the what's needed for the average users just like what happened to desktops in the mid-2000s and laptops a few years later. Of course, there are niche groups that will continue to be excited about technological growth in performance. But for the average user, the computational power is certainly good enough. There isn't any really daily software used by majority of the user that push the limits of the smartphone. The reasons to look forward a new phone have diminished to a select few: Battery, camera, current phone is dead, or just to have a new phone.

So will this trend of boring smartphones continue?

Sort of. The past few years, we haven't seen any real significant innovations in phones. And these innovations haven't really changed how we interact with our devices.

I think innovations are coming in the very near future though. The "Next Big Thing" is going to be cameras that sense depth (e.g. Intel's RealSense, Project Tango). It is going to fundamentally change how our smartphone interacts with the real world. Augmented reality will be something that will affect our lives from shopping online to digital modeling. This will push the performance of our current devices and rejuvenate the smartphone market.