Phone

Smartphones have brought general purpose personal computing device to the masses. Although Microsoft wanted it on every desk, it ended up being in every pocket (almost). As its usage continued to explode in the previous decade, new device sales have hit saturation of around 1.5bn devices per year. This is not purely a replacement rate, because a lot of these devices are still for first time users, however we are definitely in the peak-smartphone territory (by volume).

While tech-giants are grappling with what comes next, smartphones themselves face an odd period, where incremental improvements are harder to squeeze in this form factor. There were several holdouts, and there is a growing group which wants to deboard this gravy train. Smart wearables are a good candidate which at some point should become a sizeable competitor in the category.

The speed at which the category innovated is astonishing, and is difficult to bear witness the end of such a great run. We are only now grappling with the long term effects of living with such a computing device. They truly embody the power of the internet. There is still a lot of innovation pending on the software side of things, and that part will continue to grow surprise observers for quite a while.

While the pandemic brought human mobility to a halt, the usage of these devices have continued to scale new heights. Since this is the primary computing device for a vast majority, these devices ended up being a critical window to the world, in terms of communication, education, information etc. The world was clearly not prepared for such a situation, and several sectors need a significant overhaul to cope. While technology does not have all the answers yet, life will continue to evolve towards stranger new periods. In the meanwhile, stay safe, stay healthy.

Best, Umang