End of the Smartphone Era

Some believe that AR(Augmented Reality) and VR(Virtual Reality) will drive up the demand for smart phones, others hold opinion that smart phones we know will die out. Hololens inventor Alex Kipman went on to say that the phone is already dead. He believes that AI enables devices will render the smart phone obsolete. Recently Microsoft corp. introduced a new product, an easy to carry laptop with fast boot up process and new Windows version, to compete against Apple's Mac. Microsoft has explored several other categories in the hardware area like the tablet-laptops and smart phones, but with these several other gadgets in its pipeline, the absence of smart phones is conspicuous. Although the Hardware Marketing Chief of Microsoft didn't think of the absence as a big deal.

 Virtual reality (VR) is the umbrella term for all immersive experiences, which could be created using purely real-world content, purely synthetic content or a hybrid of both.In virtual reality, everything is make-believe (simulated). In augmented reality (AR), there are virtual objects overlaid on top of real objects, but they are just little suspended movies — you can’t interact. Once you can interact with those not-really-there objects, that’s the realm of mixed reality (MR).

Smart phones transformed lives, became indispensable and continue to pervade countries and cultures. In short, they lived up to a promise made by Steve Jobs – This will change everything. They seamlessly entered every aspect of an individual’s everyday life and achieved an unprecedented rate of sales. Their portability and power to connect paved the way for them to become the first truly personal computers. Apps provided a range of services that was inconceivable before. They seamlessly entered every aspect of an individual’s everyday life. Although they did brought issues around privacy but their benefits far over-weigh their drawbacks. As their efficiency and functionality improved, so did their appeal. And while the global gap in smart phone use exists, adoption rates suggest it is closing rapidly. It would be very hard to make smart phones absolutely obsolete. As each of the offerings related to VR/AR/MR are still unfeasible for the mass market. The mass market devices do not possess the capabilities of specially-designed VR/AR but experts believe they will cater to the vast majority of VR/AR applications that will be in great demand. This mutual relationship may pave the way for a revolution. 

But Alex Kipman have points in favour of his statement too. People seem to be tiring of smartphones and have contradictory demands – they want bigger devices but also devices that have a long-lasting battery life. According to an Ericsson survey in 2015, one out of two smartphone users from one lakh respondents across 40 countries believed that smartphones will “be a thing of the past” in five years and AI would have successfully replaced it. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella put forward this view when asked about Microsoft’s seeming reluctance to continue working in the phone market. “So when you say 'when will we make more phones' I'm sure we'll make more phones. But they may not look like phones that are there today."