If you’re following the phone for the past decade or so, you might’ve noticed a slowdown. Phones just are more of the same, more pixels, more lenses, more camera modes, more Snapdragon, more display Hz, more touchscreen Hz, more battery, more, more, more . We got the form factor and decent browsing in early to mid 2010s, then it just been about dialling everything up to 11. Except for faster charging, that’s one unsexy but truly meaningful innovation that saves consumers trouble.

Consumer electronics was getting more bleh. Just like the PC market went bleh 15 years ago, mobile was also approaching its limit. Modular phones came around but they never caught on. We’ve had fun off shoots like smart devices, most prominently smart watches, but you wouldn’t regret most of those things if you lost them. They’re marginally better, except a good fit in the sleep tracking and fitness use cases, they’re forgettable . Home speakers turned out to be a fad.

Pushed to the limit and battling for market share, electronics manufacturers have unleashed some cool shit in the past years. Cameras - not in camera technology per se but in form factor. Pop-up, punch hole, and soon under the screen cameras. Every designers dream and every geeks fantasy of a pure piece of glass , is almost here. Double screens - The new Mi 11 Ultra features a second screen on the outside and is their screen from the Mi watch. It’s much more than a notification LED and you can use it like a selfie cam with the main shooter (something people badly want) . I feel this is a trend to watch. At the upper end we might see more powerful and more interactive displays for passive consumption and quickie tasks like reading a message preview, tapping a suggested response, or swiping away some notifications.

Folding phone - When I first heard of folding phones I was puzzled. But after thinking for a bit I thought we could create electronic clothes with displays and sensors on them like in sci-fi movies . More practical applications have emerged. A large folding phone like Galaxy Z Fold has the potential to converge portions of the smartphone and tablet markets . Smaller ones like Galaxy Z Flip could add novelty in the standard consumer market (I mean who does not yearn for the return of clack of the original Moto RAZR, who’s returning avatar is a bit too pricey).

In some ways we’re back to the mid-2000s insanity when Nokia went bananas, produced some wild and fun phones (including a banana phone) The phone is a now new limb, an extension of the human itself. Yet it bears the curse of it’s own success After phenomenal growth for many years, the growth rates are slowing, replacement cycles are lengthening . The market is saturating and people are treat phones like durables. So, phone manufactures are turning on the tap of zany innovation to get consumers to upgrade and part with their precious $$$ . I hope this frenzy continues and we see more cool stuff.