Upcoming Smartphone Technologies & Innovations

The smartphone domain is one of the very prominent business areas which is under quick development. Companies are coming up with incremental innovations on daily basis on many fronts. On the other hand, there are technology areas which are counted as breakthrough ones, requiring many years of research and experimentations. We are listing here some of the upcoming breakthrough technology areas which are expected to shake the smartphone industry in terms of innovation.

1. StoreDot’s FlashBattery System

StoreDot an Israeli company has been working on fast battery technology named as FlashBattery System. The company claims that its FlashBattery technology is an instant-charging battery technology that serves as a highly dense energy sponge that soaks up enough power in just 5 minutes, storing it to last an entire day. Specially designed for high-current charging, the FlashBattery™ contains, in addition to lithium, non-flammable organic compounds encased in a multi-layer safety-protection structure that

StoreDot claims that its battery technology is safe even though it is designed for high-current charging. The technology makes use of non-flammable organic compounds encased in a multi-layer safety-protection structure that prevents over-voltage and heating and is therefore considerably safer than traditional LiBs.

2. OPPO’s World’s First 5x Dual-Camera Zoom

Chinese smartphone manufacturer OPPO, popular for best camera phones, showcased 5x Dual Camera Zoom technology Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2017. The company claimed it as world’s first periscope-style dual-camera technology for smartphones. The technology offers 5x lossless zoom capability on a smartphone. Users will also enjoy an image stabilization capability like never before while keeping the device thin and sleek. OPPO worked for almost a year to develop the revolutionary periscope-styled dual-camera technology. The company has filed more than 50 patents for this technology.

3. Qualcomm’s Advanced Fingerprint Scanning and Authentication Technology

At Mobile World Congress 2017, Qualcomm, announced Qualcomm® Fingerprint Sensors, next-generation ultrasonic fingerprint technology. The advanced fingerprint scanning and authentication technology will bring new and enhanced features to the previous generation Qualcomm® Snapdragon Sense™ ID fingerprint technology. The suite of features consists of sensors for Display, Glass and Metal, detection of directional gestures, and underwater fingerprint match and device wake-up. It is also the first commercially announced integrated ultrasonic-based mobile solution to detect the heartbeat and blood flow for improved mobile authentication experiences. 

4. Google’s Visual Positioning System for Indoor Navigation

At Mobile World Congress 2017, Google introduced its Visual Positioning System (VPS) for indoor positioning and navigation. Based on Tango augmented reality (AR) system, VPS can be used to position users inside buildings with centimeter accuracy. Google says “GPS can get you to the door. And then VPS can get you to the exact item that you’re looking for.”

5. 3D Sensing

By adding the third dimension to systems, 3D sensing provides a foundation of supplemental technology that will extend the capabilities of mobile devices well past their current limitations. The ability to sense where the user or an object is in relation to the mobile device, to capture depth, dimension, and space, enables a whole new range of applications and ways to interact with one’s phone or tablet. Read More: 1 2

6. Flexible Displays

There is a lot of discussion around the flexible displays and you can see numerous amount of prototype available on YouTube. Samsung has been working prominently in this direction from a long time. The company has started with curved and edge displays on its Galaxy S series of smartphones. The next steps are expected to be towards fully flexible displays, however, the path is very challenging. We need flexible batteries too. We can expect fully flexible displays to be available in next five to ten years.

7. Haptic Displays

Haptic technology is embedded inside the touchscreen. Smart piezo actuators generate an ultrasonic vibration which controls in real time the friction below the finger. The user feels as if turning a real knob, pushing a real cursor and perceives various textures.