Phones were boring in 2022. That’s why they’ll be more interesting in 2023

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Fifteen years after the release of the first iPhone, tech companies are in something of a malaise. And who can blame them? It’s getting really hard to spice up a glass plate on top of a metal rectangle. While 2023 doesn’t look set to be a game-changer, there are a few features to expect that will raise the bar for the supercomputers in our pockets nonetheless.

Some of next year’s phone advances are eagerly anticipated, like the iPhone possibly switching to USB-C chargers (in part because Apple is being forced by European regulators). Other devices will likely enhance the artificial intelligence computer programs that make your photos look better, the Wi-Fi and cellular radios that stream them to the Internet, and the screen you view them on. This is at least a little more exciting than the handful of innovations we’ve received this year.

We’ve all grown accustomed to the tweaks and refinements companies make to phones to improve the speed of their processing chips, the quality of their cameras, and the beauty of their screens. Sure, Apple may have introduced the notch-hiding Dynamic Island and a new satellite SOS feature to its $800 iPhone 14, promising peace of mind if you’re caught in an emergency with no cell service. Samsung may have made its S-Pen stylus available to people willing to shell out $1,200 for its S22 Ultra phone. And the Nothing Phone 1 may have graced the affordable 5G niche with an LED-lit design. But otherwise, this year has been a poor choice for exciting new phones.

“The only significant thing that has changed this year, I think, has been updates to foldable devices,” said Nabila Popal, director of research at industry observer IDC. Most phones have just seen incremental improvements, Popal noted, an assessment in stark contrast to Samsung president TM Roh who said the company’s S22 series has “game-changing camera capabilities” and Apple CEO Tim Cook called the iPhone 14 lineup “the best iPhones we’ve ever created.”

Ultimately, the promise of a truly exciting new phone may lean on technology that’s still years away. One of the best examples came this year when LG announced an extendable display, raising the possibility that instead of carrying big, bulky phones everywhere, we could just stretch out smaller ones when we wanted more screen real estate. LG is not alone. Motorola showed off a concept device with a rollable display earlier this year, which means we could get a new type of flexible screen in a portable form factor at some point.

But while we don’t expect generational leaps in next year’s phones, here’s what will improve for these ubiquitous gadgets.

The Galaxy Z Flip 4’s hinge allows it to stay at various angles. When close to perpendicular, it can put the software into Flex mode.

The Patrick Holland/CNET foldouts are coming for the top tier

This year’s Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Z Flip 4 were incremental updates of their predecessors. Neither saw price drops, but they did get S Pen functionality, better software, and improved hinges, further overshadowing the mistakes of Samsung’s first foldable devices. Next year, expect more of the same: the best foldable devices yet (with incremental updates), but not yet in many buyers’ price ranges.

It may be fine for people buying more expensive phones, Popal said. While still only a fraction of the 1.24 billion phones shipped in 2022, foldable devices have doubled in sales from last year to 16 million devices in 2022, and that figure is expected to continue rising. Given that the cheapest foldables, like the $999 Samsung Z Flip 4, are the same price as an iPhone 14 Pro, it’s no surprise that more premium phone buyers are starting to swap their flat phones for foldable ones.

They’re probably more eager to buy more expensive phones with some of the best promotional deals we’ve seen in years from carriers, who are saving consumers up to $1,000 off the list price as part of a multi-year service agreement. That’s enough to get a new Z Flip 4 practically free, or reduce the price of a Z Fold 4 to a manageable monthly bill.

Even more consumers are likely to switch if a new device challenges Samsung for the title of cheapest foldable. TCL had shelved its nearly market-ready Project Chicago clamshell foldable because the company couldn’t bring the price down below $700, which would match the prices of its other phones. While there are no rumors that a cheaper foldable will likely arrive in 2023, we do know that the upcoming Motorola Razr could be priced lower than its predecessors. The first foldable to drop below premium price could set the bar for future flexible display devices.

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iPhone 14 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.

Andrew Lanxon/CNET What’s Coming for Dish Phones

There are some predictions for next year when it comes to traditional phones, but they don’t exactly involve generational shifts.

Apple will be forced to replace its aging Lightning ports with USB-C by 2024, and the company could do so this year. Rumors have suggested for years that Apple would make the switch, but now it has an EU-imposed deadline. Otherwise, in next year’s series, which is assumed to be called the iPhone 15, the company could package its pricier Pro Max model with more features and rename it iPhone Ultra to distinguish it from its cheaper big-screen iPhone Plus counterpart, according to Bloomberg. .

Android phones will continue their slow march of improvement. Samsung’s focus on improving cameras could lead it to use a 200MP camera in its upcoming S23 Ultra phone, according to leaker Ice Universe, up from the 108MP primary camera in this year’s S22 Ultra. And while there haven’t been many rumors about the Pixel 8 series, we can expect Google to find new ways to use phones’ Tensor chipsets to perform previously impossible feats, like the Magic Eraser feature that erases unwanted things in photos, which debuted in Pixel 7 this year.

Read more: The most exciting new phones for 2023: iPhone 15, Galaxy S23 and more

These may seem like small improvements over last year’s phones, but it’s worth pointing out that most people don’t buy new phones every year. Thanks to carriers’ two- and three-year contracts and the rising cost of phones, consumers are spending so much time updating. When they go in for a new device, enough time has passed that progress is evident.

Though just a few years away, think of the leap from the iPhone X’s dual rear cameras to the triple shooters and squared-off sides of the iPhone 12 Pro, and from that to the notch-limiting Dynamic Island and iPhone’s always-on display 14 Pros, Popal said.

“[Phones] they’ve already come this far and year after year we don’t really see it,” Popal said. The rapid pace of innovations at the beginning of the smartphone era makes it seem like we’ve slowed down. we’re a little spoiled.”

Two concept devices at Samsung’s CES 2022 booth: a triple-folder on the left and a conventional folding with a translucent edge.

Samsung phones beyond 2023

If we want real change in phones, we’ll have to wait for what awaits us beyond 2023. New technologies could change the way we interact with and use our phones.

This could take us into really new territory. Even science fiction didn’t come up with many ideas beyond carrying in our pockets a stuffed rectangle of technology that connects us to the world. We basically have a Star Trek tricorder, a portable Star Wars datapad, and Her’s personal assistant in a headset, all wrapped up in one gadget.

Here, closer to our century, there are some ideas that come to the surface. Upcoming premium Qualcomm Snapdragon chips can increase privacy by hiding notifications when your phone sees other people hovering over the screen, while advances in artificial intelligence continue to add filters and effects to all of our live photo and video chats. Google and Apple are racing to add more AR features into their navigation apps, as well as making phones hubs for tap-to-pay purchasing and remote unlocking of cars and smart homes. So expect mobile software to put more control of your digital life at your fingertips. And in Apple’s case, expect it to leverage Lidar to better map the real world, as reported by CNET’s Lisa Eadicicco.

More foldouts may come along the line as well. Samsung has shown many different concepts at CES over the past few years, some with trifold screens and some with transparent panels. These are further away and probably won’t arrive next year, but at CES 2023 in January we could see more enticing concepts that give an idea of ​​how portable devices could expand their functionality.

Then again, perhaps the future of phones will be in what they connect to: smartwatches and smart homes, of course, but also AR glasses. Some rumors say we’ll finally get our Apple glasses in 2023, solidifying our phones as anchors for more dynamic tech ways to see the world. Other companies are preparing their own AR glasses for when Apple normalizes the new technology.

As renowned Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted, we could have all of our iPhones replaced by AR glasses in a decade, so perhaps the days are numbered for phones to be the center of our mobile lives. Until then, we’ll continue to track how they integrate with more and more everyday experiences, one technological innovation at a time.

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