Smartphones: Pro-like photography and faster networks to be a big focus in 2016.
Can you believe it’s only been 15 years since the first camera phone came out, with a whopping 0.1 megapixels? Fast forward to today, and smartphones like the 16 megapixel LGV10 are giving consumers enhanced photo and video capabilities that could rival their DSLR brethren, and as much capacity as some of laptops.
As we move into 2016, we will see major strides made towards a radically new smartphone camera market. Camera makers are pushing the boundaries of technology and exploring new areas, such as 3D cameras, massive megapixels (80MB), cameras that can take 360 degree panoramic images and video and cameras that can shoot 1,000 frames a second. 4K Ultra HD for mobile is another move to watch in 2016. Not just for video streaming, we’ll see users take advantage of this extreme resolution in new ways as they shoot and create their own content on their smartphones.
Networking speed is another area where we will see companies start to push the envelope in 2016, such as new creative strategies for caching, spectrum hopping and managing the Internet of Things. This needs to happen to support user expectations for downloading larger files for apps, movies, photos, videos and other materials, more frequently and more quickly. 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 addition to the changes smartphone experience the smartphone market itself also promises to evolve. We will continue to see a globalization of the mobile landscape in 2016, as new China brands shake up the smartphone markets with new designs and business models. Expect continuing growth from China brands like Xiaomi, Lenovo and Huawei, which was the fastest growing smartphone maker in the second quarter, according to research firm Gartner.
2015 was exciting year for smartphone buyers, and they have more to look forward to as we move into 2016.
—Christopher Bergey is the vice president and general manager of Mobile and Connected Solutions, SanDisk Corporation
[via eetimes.com]
