12 Smartphone Trends to Watch in 2017

In the year 2016, budget smartphones were the talk of the town and technology geeks are expecting much more flexibility, user-friendliness, and innovation in 2017. Smartphones have become much more than a need for individuals to stay connected, relish entertainment and manage workplace to facilitate better lifestyle. For this reason, the smartphone industry is going through the regular innovation in terms of designs, graphics, and higher resolution.

Let us have a look at some of the interesting statistics and facts on how smartphone usage has become the mainstream and impacting the economy.

• The mobile industry generates annual revenue of $3.1 trillion, which is approximately 4.2% of global GDP (App Annie).
• The average user checks his/her smartphone at least 46 times a day and in United States, people collectively do this 8 billion times in 24 hours (App Annie).
• The average smartphone user uses 2.9 GB of data every month (Times).
• Women as compared to men share more content, play games and take pictures on mobile devices. While men mostly read news and watch videos (Entrepreneur).
• Eight out of ten email users will access their accounts from their mobile devices by 2018 (Emailmonday)

From the above facts and statistics, we can see the overall impact of smartphones on people worldwide. Now let us have a look at smartphone trends in 2017 to watch out.

In 2017, smartphones are expected to have smoother graphics and applications will run more speedily. Qualcomm has already announced the release of Snapdragon 835, which would be installed in some flagship android smartphones from top brands. While others may opt out for Mediatek Helio X30, comprising of 10 CPU cores, which is highest among mobile processors. In fact, the smartphones will be much higher in performance to match PC’s performance.

Rumors about new smartphone designs are revolving around and top of the list includes Apple, enhancing the decade old iPhone designs. Moreover, Samsung will soon release a folding smartphone. It is not confirmed yet, however, many new things are expected in the coming year.

In 2016, fully customizable smartphones such as LG G5 and Moto Z were hot trends. The smartphones were inspired by Google’s project Ara. Lenovo’s C Plus was released this year with some innovation. The smartphone features prototype folding that can be worn as a watch. Moreover, Samsung and LG have also buzzed about releasing smartphones with folding displays.

Still trying to find how your USB 2.0 Cable fits smartphone, not anymore because 2017 will not frustrate you in any way. USB-C will be released in 2017 with versatility beyond charging. With just five minutes of charge, you will be able to use your smartphone for five hours. The USB C-Cable allow you to connect mobile devices to headphones, external storage devices, flash drives and high definition monitors. The USB C-cable is already found in some flagship phones like Google Pixel and HTC 10. However, more devices are expecting to have USB C port in 2017. In the meanwhile, you have to rely on adapters before the devices get equipped with USB-C port.

Smartphones are used for taking an application, downloading apps, socializing and listening to the music. Especially when you want to watch high definition videos and record them in 4k mode, you run out of memory. Until now, nothing impressive has been seen in terms of storage. However, SanDisk this year showed a prototype 1 terabyte SD Card.

Google’s new app, Tango puts the virtual layer on top of the screen, augmented reality in other words. You may look at Pokemon Go, but there are lot more possibilities. This technology can regulate its position and placement within the physical space around you. However, your smartphone is becoming smoother than that.

The machine learning lenders in 2017 will make the interaction with your device even simpler and better. It determines how you use your smartphone and adapt itself to it. Lenovo Phab 2 Pro Augmented Reality Smartphones are capable of identifying objects, display relevant information and map out rooms. It shows how the smartphones will evolve to make the user experience richer. The online application will possibly be available in offline mode. The possibilities are limitless, as the AI is still in its initial phase.

Virtual reality demands high-end specifications and that is why mobile devices are speeding up. In 2017, it will be possible to plug handsets into Google’s DayDream View VR Headset to play games, roam virtual reality world and watch movies. Virtual reality is only available to few handsets like Galaxy S7 Samsung, however, more smartphone devices are expected to have this high-end feature in 2017. For a spectacular visual experience, the smartphones need to have high-resolution displays. Rising trend in virtual reality solutions will unlock new horizons, and in the future much bigger is expected.

Modern technologies will help boost the speed of LTE. Flagship phones like Apple iPhone 7 and Samsung Galaxy S7 will be able to download at much higher speed with the maximum speed of 600 Mbps while the upload date speed will be 150 Mbps. With Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X16 Modem, users can enjoy download speed up to 1Gbps. However, one thing is to be kept in mind that the speed also depends on the network capacity of a carrier.

The smartphone industry is hostile to provide proper backup to high-resolution phones, 4K still appears to be the domestic shift for smartphone displays. Sony Xperia Z5 has already enabled the 4K feature, yet more is expected to come with phones like Samsung S8 Edge and Samsung Galaxy S8. In 2017, smartphone buyers have to pick between 4k OLED Smartphones or 4K UHD Smartphones.

Dual Camera has already been seen on high-end smartphones, but have not become mainstream yet. In 2017, the majority of smartphones will expect to have a dual camera system with better results and image processing speed.

In the recent years, much hype was seen as most of the brands claimed to offer thinnest and lightweight smartphones. Apple iPhone 8, which is expected to be released in 2017, eliminating the LCD display panel and shifting towards AMOLED display instead. Apple iPhone 8 will soon be one of the slimmest smartphones series in 2017

Smartphones will soon be equipped with Bluetooth 5 wireless feature, which will be two times speedier and four times the range of its prototype Bluetooth 4.2. Bluetooth 5 will be able to stretch up to 400 meters in a line of sight. However, with the blockade, experts consider a 120-meter range more accurate. Bluetooth 5 will help you unlock your car or operate a wireless Bluetooth speaker from a longer distance.

What are your thoughts about smartphone trends in 2017, and which one inspired you the most? The year 2016 ended up with trends that were much in hype and continued to take the lead in 2017 and over.