Twelve years after the iPhone revolution, the smartphone is about to experience one of the biggest changes in its young history. The coming decade will bring with it many innovations, starting with 5G. The mobile network of tomorrow will allow new uses to emerge and the "smart phone" to evolve. On the eve of the Berlin IFA, it is already possible to imagine what the smartphone of tomorrow will look like.
In the space of a decade, the smartphone has become an essential everyday tool. The advent of “smart phones” is often associated with the arrival of the iPhone in 2007. However, mobiles had already shown the way by the end of the 1990s with the famous PDAs (personal assistants) signed Palm, then the Nokia mobiles. However, it was with the launch of the Apple device that the phone became smart in the eyes of the general public, thanks in particular to its touch screen.
Since then, the entire planet has succumbed to the smartphone and the giant Google now claims 2.5 billion active Android devices in the world. An impressive success that hides another reality, however: the market has been going through the worst crisis in its history in recent months. Sales of smartphones are no longer growing and even fell for the first time last year.
With the dawn of 2020, the smartphone is looking for a second wind and several major improvements should allow it to reinvent itself. The major players in the sector have been multiplying innovations for several months, so that it is already possible to see what our future smartphone will look like.
5G: the trigger for the new revolution
Before dwelling on the technical evolutions that await our devices, it is essential to discuss 5G. The mobile network of the future has already been launched in some countries and promises to disrupt uses. If its launch is planned for 2020 in Europe, it will take time before 5G is - especially in France - a reality for all.
Presented as a "key technology", the next generation of mobile phone networks is not just an evolution of 4G (+). It promises much higher speeds (according to the operator Orange, 5G will gradually offer improved mobile broadband up to 10 times faster than 4G) and is distinguished above all by its very low latency. Two major arguments that will allow it to promote new uses such as augmented or virtual reality and to improve those that already exist (streaming in very high definition, downloading, activities in the cloud, etc.). The smartphone market will not be the only one to benefit from this: connected objects or the connected / autonomous car are also awaiting the deployment of 5G
The latter will also allow cloud gaming to democratize, a sector that interests Google in particular with Stadia or the Shadow service of the French Blade. During the Mobile World Congress, we were able to approach a demonstration of 5G cloud gaming on the Qualcomm stand. For the general public, on-demand gaming could be one of the first advantages of 5G and manufacturers are not mistaken in betting on smartphones dedicated to gaming.
The 5G race has already started
The entire sector is preparing for the 5G revolution and some manufacturers are already offering 5G models in a few countries (South Korea, United States, China, etc.). This is particularly the case at Samsung or Huawei, while Apple should wait until 2020. Several Chinese brands are also preparing 5G compatible models and the arrival of the first 5G packages will allow them to exist on the market. According to Gartner, sales of 5G smartphones will account for 6% of total mobile sales in 2020 and 51% by 2023.
From next year, the most upscale models (flagships) will be available in 5G version.
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