What will mobile phones look like in 10 years, and what investment opportunities will emerge?

The smartphone boom has unleashed a wealth of investment opportunities. Over the next decade, what will mobile phones look like, and what investment prospects will emerge? TechRadar’s team, in collaboration with the data analytics firm ElementsVC, seeks to address these questions.

By the late 2010s, the nascent contours of smartphone evolution over the next decade had already begun to take shape. By 2030, Smartphones may replace dozens of wearable devices and cameras scattered across the body. Smartphones can only sustain consumer enthusiasm by continuously evolving and adding more useful features.

Foldable phones may become the mainstream of future smartphones.

In 2019, the Samsung Galaxy Fold and the Motorola Razr 2019 were launched, officially bringing foldable phones into the public eye. By 2029, it may well be possible for everyone to own a foldable smartphone. Ten years is a long stretch of time; foldable phones could very well become affordable and practical quite soon—but that will depend on how willing people are to abandon the tried-and-true, dependable form factor of “conventional” smartphones.

As 5G smartphones become increasingly widespread, 4G phones will gradually become a thing of the past. 6G smartphones are expected to hit the market by 2029.

In the future, smartphone front-facing cameras will be embedded beneath the display. Oppo has already demonstrated this technology, and it’s likely that other companies are working on similar solutions as well. Over the next few years—especially by 2030—the trend toward increasingly sophisticated and precise front‑facing cameras is expected to become even more pronounced, given that selfies remain one of the most popular types of photos taken with smartphones.

Many smartphones are already phasing out the 3.5 mm headphone jack, In the future, headphone jacks will no longer be found on smartphones. As more and more users switch to wireless earbuds, the number of smartphone users who need to plug their headphones into their phones will decline.

What remains uncertain is whether USB ports will still be needed to connect phones to computers or chargers. Today, some smartphone models already come without any ports, as wireless charging technology has matured, and so have methods for transmitting information and files to computers via Wi‑Fi, mobile data, or NFC. With power delivery becoming increasingly rapid, reliance on physical cables may diminish, rendering ports ever more redundant. In this way, it echoes the growing adoption of wireless earbuds—by 2030, Portless smartphones may become the new norm.

Will future smartphones be packed with dozens of cameras? Very likely not! The real game-changer will be pixel count. By the end of 2019, the highest resolution on a smartphone had reached 108 MP, as seen on Xiaomi’s Mi Note 10. Over the next decade, this figure is expected to peak.

Today, roughly 60% of the global population owns a smartphone, and smartphone penetration is steadily rising in emerging markets. Although each brand has its own component mix, 80% of the rare metals used in most smartphones are identical.

Most smartphone touchscreens consist of multiple layers of glass and plastic, It is coated with a conductive material called indium, which exhibits both high electrical conductivity and transparency. When you touch the screen, the circuit connecting your finger to the screen is completed, altering the charge at that location. The device registers this change as a “touch event” and then triggers an appropriate response.

Smartphones employ multi-antenna systems, such as Bluetooth, GPS, and WiFi. The spacing between these antenna systems is typically very small, making it challenging to achieve optimal performance. Capacitors made from the rare, hard, bluish-gray metal tantalum are used for filtering and frequency tuning. Nickel is also employed in capacitors and electrical connections in mobile phones. Another silvery metal, gallium, is used in semiconductors.

What’s next? As consumers seek more practical features, foldable phones, 5G with faster download speeds, 6G technology, and additional cameras are just a few of the anticipated developments. With ongoing technological advancements, demand for the metals required in next‑generation smartphones will continue to grow.