We have seen a boom in the development of technology in the last decade. From monochrome displays and brick-sized handsets we’ve reached a point when smartphones are thinner than ever, with large screens, eight-core processors and more power than the past’s supercomputers. Where to from now? Here are some predictions which might give us a hint about the shape of the Tech industry in 2016.

1. Mobile will continue to rise

Mobile devices have overtaken desktop PCs as the number one device used to access the internet in 2014. Since then smartphones have increased their usage in markets like South America and Asia, mostly untapped in the past. With them comes new audience for apps, services and ads – new ways of making money.

When it comes to gaming, mobile will become the prime medium for development. Gaming operators like the Royal Vegas Casino has more than 600 slot games and more than 100 mobile slot games. Already with a considerable number of mobile games in its portfolio, the developer behind the Royal Vegas casino will likely launch a mobile-first game for the first time in its history this year. Given the high number of mobile-only players Royal Vegas has, the game is likely to be a huge success, followed by many others. New mobile payment solutions will arrive to the real money gaming industry, allowing players at Royal Vegas and beyond to transact more quickly and securely with the operator.

2. Virtual reality will rise and fall

Tech entrepreneur Kevin Rose – the entrepreneur responsible for Digg – expects VR to rise and fall in 2016, only to return in focus years in the future. After an initial “wow” experience, Rose expects VR to become a “big chunk of tech that will collect dust in the corner”. He says that VR needs a “true order of magnitude improvement over standard reality” to take root, otherwise users will treat it like the Wii controller, which was a great innovation at first, but has inhabited the drawer ever since.

3. Smartwatches will still be too smart for the masses

Again, I turn to Kevin Rose for a prediction on smartwatches. He expects the Apple Watch 2 to be released, moved forward by Apple fans and inertia, and slowly forgotten. The competition has fitness bands that do what they are supposed to at a much lower price, and smart watches that can do about anything Apple Watch can, but at a lower price – and with a much longer battery life. Apple is expected to realize its mistake, and either re-build its smartwatch, or buy one of its competitors (like Fitbit, for example).

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