Bye Bye 2015: Hot mobility trends for 2016

Vivek Tyagi

Smartphone Capacity Will Continue to Skyrocket

According to IDC, the digital universe will be a staggering 44 trillion gigabytes in 2020.  The fact is, our data consumption and generation is rapidly increasing. One area where that is easy to see is in our mobile devices where more and more photos and videos are being captured, application size growing and many of us have 24 hour/365 connection to social media.

Smartphone manufacturers, in turn, are dramatically expanding capacities. In 2015, the average premium smartphone came with 38.9GB of storage. By 2018, average capacity for premium smartphones will nearly double to 77.2GB worldwide, according to SanDisk Market Intelligence. Interestingly, the high-end smartphones such as the iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy S 6 already have as much capacity (128GB) as the entry-level MacBook Air, and it is possible to instantly add 200GB of storage to compatible smartphones with a microSDXC card.

Picture (and Film) This – Smartphone Photography and Video is Going to Get Extreme

The dramatic increase in capacity in part derives from the fact that smartphones are graduating from serving as a “snapshot” camera to an enthusiast-grade machine thanks to applications and technologies like Live Photo, slo-mo and software that will let consumers edit directly on the handset. It’s a virtuous circle. As imaging capabilities and performance improve on phones, consumers will take more pictures and videos, which in turn will encourage manufacturers and others to devise new products to meet the new expectations.

It’s hard to imagine, but the first camera smartphone — and the explosion of social media it has enabled — only came out 15 years ago. It had a resolution of 0.1 megapixels. Change happens rapidly.

With more people taking pictures with their smartphones, camera makers are doing what you’d expect: pushing the boundaries of technology and exploring new markets. 3D cameras, virtual reality systems, massive megapixels (80MB), cameras that can take 360 degree panoramic images and video and cameras that can shoot 1,000 frames a second are some of the things to expect. Over the next year, you’ll see the first in a series of steps toward a radically new camera market.

4K Ultra HD is another mobile phenomenon. Consumers will experience this high resolution content first on smartphones, and the content they experience will be often shot by individuals like themselves. Expect to see new sites and new ways of taking advantage of extreme resolution come from unexpected places.

We Will Address the Elephant in the Room: Networking

Networking is one of the miracles of the digital revolution, but it’s also the pain point. Users want to download larger files more frequently in less time. Global Internet traffic will grow by three fold over the next five years, according to some predictions. Users will begin to download movies that could take up to 80GB. Average Internet speeds, meanwhile, may only climb from 5 mbps today to 11.3 mbps by 2019, according to Danny Kaye, executive vice president, Global Research and Technology Strategy at 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. We will need gbps speeds to exchange GB sized files painlessly.

In 2016, we will see companies start to push the envelope on networking speeds. You may also see companies explore creative strategies for caching, spectrum hopping and managing the Internet of Things.

New Faces Shake Up the Mobile Ecosystem

Who was the fastest growing smartphone maker in the second quarter? Huawei, says Gartner. China brands, particularly brands like Xiaomi, Lenovo and Huawei, will continue to shake up smartphone markets with new designs and new ways of selling directly to consumers.

Consumers Will No Longer Be Willing to Wait Two Years to Upgrade Their Smartphone

For years, wireless carrier contracts have dictated when many of us buy upgrade our smartphone – the inevitable two-year contract meant upgrade ever two years. In 2016, consumers will turn in smartphones more rapidly than ever before thanks to contracts that allow them to upgrade quickly. This means many will get the latest technology much quicker while the rest of the world will be able to enjoy a (nearly) cutting-edge refurbished smartphone. Repurposed smartphones are becoming a significant market. The market for refurbished phones is expected to grow from 53 million in 2014 to 275 million in a few years. A typical high-end smartphone can get $50 while a good iPhone can fetch you $200 to $400.

Memory Cards Will Take on a New Role

The number of phones with microSD card slots has actually been remarkably stable at 75 percent for the past several years, according to Strategy Analytics. But in the near future, the use and versatility of microSD cards and slots will grow. One reason is the delete dilemma: people are running out of space on their phone and want a way to keep taking pictures, particularly in emerging nations where entry level phones play a larger role. Another is USB Type-C, a port that acts as both a power port and memory slot. A third is the versatile microSD format. Both Google and Microsoft have added OS support that let you use microSD card as primary memory.

Entry Level Markets will Move Away from Entry Level Technology

Emerging markets accounted for 76 percent of all smartphone shipments in 2014 and will rise to 82 percent by 2020. That’s going to lead to plenty of innovation at the entry level. Consumers in these markets don’t want yesterday’s technology. They will want cutting-edge technology but at low price points. In 2014, phones that cost under $200 account for 60 percent of the market. By 2020, sub-$200 phones will account for 70 percent of sales with half of those phones costing under $100. (SpecTRAX and PriceTRAX databases from Strategy Analytics.)

Your Smartphone Will become Your Connecting Key to Everything

It wasn’t that long ago that we first started relying on our smartphone to take pictures or to navigate us to our destination. Now, I can use my mobile device to start a car, unlock my front door or turn the channel on the television – or even replace my television altogether. As mobile device dependence increases, we will see it continue to converge with the “Internet of Things” (IoT) trend to create new capabilities in 2016 that were never before possible. Whatever they are, having fast, responsive storage will undoubtedly be pivotal to ensuring they deliver a good user experience.

IoT Will Drive Need for Flash Storage in New Areas

2015 was an exciting year for IoT. We saw huge advancements in the connected car, an increasing number of industrial segments looking at ways to improve efficiency and ROI through connectivity, and more IoT strides in the Connected Home and in consumer electronics than I can list here. The consistent thread in all of these segments is not just that they are “connected”, but that this connected experience demands storage that is high capacity, responsive and reliable – and that often means flash storage. As we move into 2016, IoT promises to continue to have an impact in these areas as well as new markets, such medical, utilities and robotics. Undoubtedly, flash storage has the potential to offer big benefits in these new areas as well.

The author is Director-Business Development, Channel and OEM Sales, SanDisk India