Now that the New Year is about to come in, it's safe to say that we are about to see technology rise by a notch once again. It's basically what has been happening these past years, especially when it comes to smartphones. Year after year, different mobile phone brands introduce to use new technologies that may or may not become mainstream. Some are simply bells and whistles while some are undeniably useful. For the year 2017, here are some of the rumored and expected technologies to hit smartphones.
All-Glass Surface
This feature has been heard about the upcoming Apple iPhone 8 and Samsung Galaxy S8. Although both companies haven't confirmed it yet, rumors about their use of such feature have been surfacing unstoppably. The all-glass surface feature simply means having no home button and having an almost bezel-free display.
With that said, when the next generation of smartphones do come with an all-glass surface, their fingerprint sensors should be stuffed under the display. The front camera should also be placed under the glass surface. It's also possible for the fingerprint scanner to be placed elsewhere like on the sides or at the rear. But for the iPhone 8, it was said that the scanner will be tucked underneath the display.
Zeroed-out Audio Jack
2017 may be the year when smartphone makers totally say bye to the well-loved 3.5 mm jack. Apple went first this year when they removed the traditional headphone jack in their iPhone 7 series. Rumor has it that Samsung will do the same thing when they release the Galaxy S8. With that said, the same thing could also be done with the mid-year due Galaxy Note 8. With more and more phone brands ditching the audio jack, there's a good chance that the use of the conventional jack will be zeroed out in the foreseeable future.
Wireless Charging Technology
The latest rumor about the iPhone 8 is that it will be wireless charging-enabled. This technology may not exactly be brand new, but 2017 may be the year when more and more phone models will be made wireless charging-enabled. Rumor has it that the premium iPhone 8 will come with all the wireless charging accessories from the box while the regular model(s) will have the accessories sold separately.
Dual Camera System
The dual camera system has been introduced by a few smartphone brands this year but the technology hasn't become mainstream yet. This could happen in 2017. The fact that there really is no other way but forward means that smartphone companies have no choice but to upgrade their cameras to something better. Increasing the MP count is one thing, but in order to gain attention, high technologies like the dual camera system may be necessary.
Improved Display
Well, smartphone makers can only do so much in upgrading the display so it's safe to say that this part won't exactly get groundbreaking twists, just some expected improvements and physical changes. Though, it's worth noting that there were news about the Galaxy S8 using an RGB Super AMOLED panel. This means that there will be an increase in subpixels and will overall result to an improved picture quality, GSM Arena reported. Nevertheless, this is just one of the things smartphone companies can do to their phones' display. As a whole, the changes we'll see on the next flagship phones could be more visible when viewed as a whole.
