Development in smartphones continues at quite a pace, with each new iteration of the leading devices offering more than their predecessors in several key areas.
Apple, Samsung, Google and the other leading manufacturers push each other to produce the best performing smartphones - and it's the business and consumer users who benefit. At a cost, at least!
Where are they focused going into 2025? There are four key areas in which we can expect to see advancements, at least a couple of which will be appealing to business users.
To me, AI in smartphones is just enhanced "assistants", which we've seen for quite a while now. WIll that change? Apparently so.
Apple launched the iPhone 16 ready for its version of AI, Apple Intelligence, which releases later this year. It'll help you write and complete tasks faster. Says Apple anyway. Will anyone use it? Probably business users if I am honest.
"Write an email to telling them X, Y, Z." - and similar requests. That's what I expect it to be used for, at least at first.
Google's Pixel 9 has Gemini, their version of AI. Which is, again, an enhanced assistant. Honestly, it feels like the term "AI" is being slapped on a lot of stuff that is anything but.
Where artificial intelligence is being used by the big boys is in photography. Which brings me to the next area driving innovation.
Smartphones in 2025 are widely expected to build on the use of AI in photography. Yes, the cameras themselves will no doubt get increasingly powerful but it's AI that will allow you to take better photos.
When you go to take a photo, AI will analyse the scene and adjust the camera settings to account for low light or high contrast, identify objects and faces and, in some cases, do all this in real time. You won't have to do anything...just 'click'.
This will be extremely helpful in business where a company may rely on, for example, workmen to photograph their work on site. We've all seen blurry photos taken in a hurry by less than skilled photographers - AI could prevent this.
I fully expect to see this be a real factor in device selection next year.
As smartphones become, well, smarter, they require more processing power and that requires more power, depleting battery life. This means 2025's devices will need longer lasting batteries or faster charging...or, ideally, both.
It may not be the marketing strapline but buried in the specs somewhere I think we'll see at least one of the two in every new phone launched, with the very best models boasting both.
We'll be seeing wider spread inclusion of wireless and reverse charging across the manufacturers, some of which have been quite slow to move on in my opinion.
Battery efficiency will improve too - it'll have to as you can't just keep making bigger batteries, unless we fancy dropping back to the 80s and early 90s, of course...
Have you noticed in the last 12 months or so an increase in chatter about the number of mobile devices in landfills, how to best deal with that, recycling and all that? I know I have.
Apple, Samsung et al will have to start addressing this in a more visible way if they are to maintain reputation. 2025, therefore, will probably see more marketing around models using recycled and eco-friendly materials and less damaging manufacturing processes.
If yours is a business looking to be seen as green, then you'll probably want to know which device is the most eco-friendly - that's a market the manufacturers will want to get into more and more in the future.
That's where I see next year's focus going - so what models can you look forward to choosing from?
Here's a list - some pretty certain, some perhaps just strongly rumoured.
The majority of UK businesses will opt for what they know - an Apple or a Samsung - but some of the others should at least be considered.
The Google Pixel 9 and its variants are superb phones and ideal for those who operate in the Google environment already - the 9a, though, is not yet confirmed, so opt for the available options. The One Plus looks like it might pack a hell of a lot of power and storage which may suit mostly mobile businesses, so it's worth a look.
We'll see if my predictions prove accurate next year, of course. In the meantime, do speak to us about your business mobiles - we can get you the latest models on the best tariffs from the leading networks and save you a pretty penny in the process!
