“I’ll have to get used to it, but I’m really excited to be in control again,” Edwards said in a 2020 BBC video documenting her experience. Lidar, or light detection and ranging, is just one example of how the technology inside the iPhone has evolved over the past 15 years. When the first iPhone was released on June 29, 2007, it had a 3.5-inch screen that would be considered tiny by today’s standards and a single 2-megapixel camera. Now, Apple’s most sophisticated phones are equipped with triple rear cameras advanced enough to shoot movies, sensors that help people like Edwards navigate the world, and powerful chips with billions of transistors. The iPhone has often served as a catalyst for the technologies introduced inside, be it digital assistant Siri, mobile payments or wireless charging, and has helped evolve the way we live our mobile lives. But in the future, the most important part of the iPhone may be everything around it. This is according to analysts who have observed the general trends of the mobile phone industry and Apple’s strategy.
In the short term, we’re likely to see incremental improvements like higher-quality cameras and giant screens. But over the next decade, the iPhone could become a hub for smart glasses and other devices. AirPods, Apple Watches and CarPlay-enabled vehicles may be just the beginning. The core components of the iPhone, such as the display and charging systems, are also expected to receive a significant boost. “The next quest for the smartphone is to figure out what it will connect to next,” said Runar Bjørhovde, an analyst at market research firm Canalys. “Because the smartphone hasn’t necessarily reached its potential yet, but as a standalone device I think the smartphone is getting closer and closer to the edge.”

Your iPhone at the center of everything

There is a lot of speculation about what comes next for the smartphone. The resounding consensus seems to be smart glasses, with companies like Meta, Snap and Google all working on their own version of high-tech glasses. Apple is no exception. reports from Bloomberg indicate that the iPhone maker could debut a mixed reality headset this year or next that will support augmented and virtual reality technologies. According to the report, a pair of AR-powered smart glasses could arrive later this decade. What does this have to do with the iPhone? Possibly everything. Although Apple’s headset is expected to function as a standalone device, the apps and services it runs will likely come from the iPhone. Consider the Apple Watch. It doesn’t need an iPhone nearby to work, but a big part of its appeal involves its ability to sync closely with Apple’s phone. Many of the Apple Watch notifications are also linked to accounts and apps set up on the iPhone. Whether it’s smart headphones, Apple Watch, AirPods, or HomeKit-enabled devices, analysts expect the phone to remain the focus.
The iPhone will likely remain at the heart of the Apple experience, serving as a hub for AirPods, the Apple Watch, and possibly a pair of smart glasses one day. Scott Stein/CNET “The phone will be the anchor,” said Gene Munster, managing director of technology investment firm Loup Ventures and a longtime Apple analyst. But it’s not just about connecting to new personal tech gadgets. Apple is gradually turning the iPhone into a viable replacement for the wallet, integrating it even more tightly into the non-digital aspects of our lives. Apple has made great strides on this front over the past year, rolling out new features like digital IDs for Apple Wallet and Tap to Pay, which turn the iPhone into a contactless payment terminal for merchants without additional hardware. Apple also announced Apple Pay Later, which allows Apple Pay users to split a purchase into four equal installments paid over the course of six weeks. “There’s clearly a lot of momentum in financial services with Apple, and I think we’ll see further advances there,” said Nick Maynard, head of research for Juniper Research.

Better lidar, more advanced AI for better spatial awareness

Making educated guesses about Apple’s general iPhone direction is certainly easier than identifying specific changes that might be coming. But analysts have some ideas based on the seeds Apple has planted in the current iPhones. Lidar will likely continue to be important as the company pushes deeper into augmented reality. Apple added lidar to the iPhone 12 Pro in 2020 to boost the performance of AR apps, enable new camera tricks, and facilitate accessibility features like the aforementioned Person Detection. The technology measures distance by determining how long it takes light to reflect off an object and bounce back. However, the iPhone’s current lidar sensors may not be sophisticated enough to realize Apple’s augmented reality ambitions, Munster said. “Specifically what needs to happen is that the mapping of the real world needs to be more accurate,” said Munster, whose company conducts research in topics such as augmented reality, autonomous vehicles and virtual reality. “And until that happens, AR isn’t really going to happen.” The iPhone’s people detection feature uses lidar. James Martin/CNET Lidar improves the iPhone’s depth-sensing skills, but it’s still up to the phone’s processor to make sense of all that data. Apple has been leaning on artificial intelligence — one of Silicon Valley’s favorite buzzwords in recent years — to give the iPhone and other products more context about users and their environment. Once again, you can look to the Apple Watch to see this approach in action. Apple’s smartwatch uses artificial intelligence and data collected from its sensors for tasks like tracking your sleep and noting when you wash your hands. Hanish Bhatia, a senior analyst at Counterpoint Research, gave a hypothetical example of how AI improvements could one day manifest in upcoming iPhones. He envisions a future in which Apple’s smartphone can observe a person’s habits to understand whether the phone’s primary user or a family member might be using the device. “The way you use your phone, what angle your smartphone is tilted at… Do you press with a certain pressure or do you just tap it with your fingernails or something?” he said as an example. “These are all different types of behaviors that are very unique to a user.” Bhatia’s example is speculative and does not reflect Apple’s actual plans. But with advances in artificial intelligence and technologies like lidar and ultra wideband giving the iPhone more spatial awareness, it’s easy to imagine a scenario like this.

Displays and charging technology could change significantly

Perhaps one of the biggest questions about Apple’s future smartphone plans is whether the company will ever create a foldable iPhone. Samsung, Apple’s biggest rival in the mobile space, has already launched several generations of phones with a flexible design. Motorola, Huawei and Microsoft have followed suit, and Google is rumored to be working on a flexible Pixel. Shipments of foldable smartphones are said to have increased by 264.3% in 2021 compared to 2020, according to The International Data Corporation. But experts like Munster and Maynard are wary of whether Apple will take a similar approach. Although the tech giant has filed patents for mobile devices with flexible screens, those filings aren’t always indicative of Apple’s plans. Flip phone sales are on the rise, but shipments still pale in comparison to regular smartphones. (Research firm IDC estimates 7.1 million foldable phones shipped in 2021 compared to 362.4 million phones shipped in just the fourth quarter of last year). And then there’s the question of whether foldable devices offer anything truly new or important to the smartphone experience. There are also challenges with creating a true glass display that’s foldable, Munster says. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip has a glass screen, but that glass is also combined with “a special material” to “achieve consistent hardness,” CNET reported in 2020. “The missing piece from my perspective is the how [Apple] he really would,” Munster said. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 3 can be folded in half. Sarah Tew/CNET The iPhone’s charging experience is likely due for an upgrade as well. Between USB-C, Lightning, and MagSafe, it’s no exaggeration to say that Apple’s charging options are complicated. Maynard believes pressure from the European Union and US senators could mean the switch to USB-C could be in the iPhone’s future. But more dramatic changes could also be in the works. Rumors of a fully portable iPhone have been around for years, and Maynard doesn’t think it’s completely out of the question.
“I suspect that if any vendor was going to launch a fully portless system, it would probably be Apple,” Maynard said, citing Apple’s decision to remove the headphone jack from the iPhone in 2016. Wireless charging has also been a focus for Apple in recent years, further supporting the case for a portless iPhone. There are Apple’s relatively new MagSafe chargers, and many CarPlay-enabled vehicles also support wireless connections. Apple has also patented wireless charging systems that will be built directly into MacBooks, allowing Apple laptops to charge iPhones, Apple Watches and iPads. iPad Pro’s Smart Connector also provides a quick and easy way to connect accessories to Apple’s tablet without a port. “The number of systems that actually 100 percent have to be wired is going down,” Maynard said. Apple’s MagSafe…