Comparing smartphone releases is always a fairly detailed process these days. The truth is that high-end mobile devices share most of their best qualities by now, and it’s the little things that set them apart. Sure, there are certain phones made for a very specific purpose that can stand out a little bit more. But more typically, we’re debating photo quality, processing speed, and fractions of inches’ worth of Screen size when we compare top-of-the-line phones nowadays.

So will this just continue to be the case? Or will the smartphones of the near future be able to compete based on larger features rather than detailed specs? That’s difficult for anyone to say with certainty. What we can do to some extent however is predict what some of the defining features of near-future smartphones might be. And at least for a brief time, the phones that embrace these features first and most effectively could gain an edge in an ultra-competitive industry.

Augmented Reality

There’s already a lot to know about augmented reality given that ARCore and ARKit are still relatively new, and most of us are still at least relatively unfamiliar with the early generation of augmented reality apps. However, this technology is going to expand and improve rapidly in the coming years, and phones will need to improve with it. To some extent the performance of AR programs is on developers, but phones need to be able to perceive surfaces and facilitate augmented reality accurately in order for it to work its best. Any phone that manages to do a particularly good job of this will theoretically gain an edge.

Size does matter

To this point, preference for screen size has sort of fluctuated. In a little over a decade of smartphones we’ve gone from big to small and to big again, and now people have choices as to whether they want phones or “phablets.” But as we grow even more dependent on our phones, and do more things on them, extra screen space is going to be appreciated. There’s a reasonable chance that larger screens will simply become the norm.

Giving you peace of mind

In a very basic way it stands to reason that we’ll always want better security for our phones, but when you consider specific activity this area is all the more important. We’re using these devices more and more for digital payments, for instance. New sites are emerging for betting and casino activity, and building mobile components such that even our entertainment involves finances. And we’re also putting more of our personal data on our phones all the time. These factors together are making security more vital by the year, such that it will become an even more thoroughly defining feature of smartphones.

Long-lasting juice.

Better battery has always been desired, and we’ve even come up with some workarounds for weaker performances, such as protective screens that double as battery boosters. But as we continue to use our phones for more things, as well as for advanced tech practices like AR, they’ll need batteries that can keep up. It’s nothing new, but it remains one of the major challenges for smartphone developers to keep up in this area.

Beam into the future

There are smartphone projectors already that attach to our phones and allow us to stream content into space. But lately there’s been a little bit more buzz about phones being able to pull this off without the use of any kind of attachment. Once upon a time - not so very long ago in fact - we mused about being able to watch 3D, holographic projections from our phones. Projectors may be more realistic, and are certainly closer to becoming everyday realities. And whichever phone nails this concept first will have an enviable gimmick that others will quickly rush to imitate.