The iPhone is 10 years old this month and smartphones are starting to show their age. As an industry, growth is slowing, with even Apple’s sales going into decline during the past year as more people decided to keep their phones instead of upgrading. And why would they, when almost every smartphone looks the same?
In 2017, that seems set to change. New materials, processors and displays might just give the smartphone the reboot it needs to get people excited about their ubiquitous pocket supercomputers again.
As I wrote this year, the first hints of a change in smartphone design were ushered in not by Apple but by Samsung, whose Galaxy S7 Edge phone curved down on the left and right of the screen. This made for a slimmer profile and a distinctive look, albeit with some trade-offs in usability.