Richard Goodwin 05/01/2017 - 1:47pm

2017’s biggest tech trends collated in one place: iPhone 8, VR, AR, AI, Flexible Phones & 4K Displays

The past 12 months have been pretty interesting. We’ve seen – and reviewed – a ton of new gear and there have been one or two big upsets, most notably Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7.

Google had an exceptionally busy year, releasing phones, software updates and Assistant-powered peripheral devices like its Google Home hub and VR initiatives like DayDream and the company’s Daydream View VR headset.

VR started to look more cemented in 2016, but in 2017 we will almost certainly see its dominance challenged by the advent of Augmented Reality devices, potentially, from Apple and Microsoft.

Below are the key tech trends we expect to be seeing A LOT more of throughout 2017

Virtual Reality (VR)

As noted above, VR started to look more like an actual trend in 2016 with the release of Sony’s PlayStation VR and Google’s DayDream View VR headset and accompanying platform.

Samsung has been pushing hard with VR too, and it will continue to do so in 2017 with the release of its Galaxy Note 8 which is expected to pack in a 4K AMOLED panel designed specifically for VR.

More and more handsets will launch in 2017 with DayDream-support built in and this in turn will force a rise in adoption of Google’s DayDream View VR headset, which is now available for just $79.99.

HTC will continue to push its VIVE unit, arguably the finest VR experience going, to PC gamers and the like in a bid to cover-off Sony with its VR-ready PS4 experiences.

Augmented Reality (AR)

Where things get quite a bit more interesting is with the potential rise of Augmented Reality headsets. Apple says it is more interested in AR than VR and has invested its development resources accordingly. Will we see an Apple AR experience released in 2017? Possibly.

"AR I think is going to become really big," said Cook. "VR, I think, is not gonna be that big, compared to AR … How long will it take? AR gonna take a little while, because there’s some really hard technology challenges there. But it will happen. It will happen in a big way. And we will wonder, when it does [happen], how we lived without it. Kind of how we wonder how we lived without our [smartphones] today.”

Microsoft is also betting big on AR with its impressive-looking HoloLens device. You can see just how big Microsoft’s vision for HoloLens is in the video below – it looks amazing.

Cook reckons the scope for AR is much bigger than VR. Given the way we like to consume media together, I think he might have a point. Either way, the whole VR vs AR debate will certainly be an interesting one to watch play out between now and 2020.

Artificial Intelligence

Google Assistant. Cortana. Alexa. Siri. Bixby – artificial intelligence is a HUGE trend in technology right now, which has seen all the biggest players creating their own, bespoke takes on what a personal AI should be.

Siri is, arguably, the worst of the lot, while Amazon’s Alexa is perhaps the best, thanks to the fact Amazon opened her up to third party developers. Google’s Assistant will come on leaps and bounds in 2017. Ditto Cortana and Samsung’s up and coming Bixby AI.

Where things will get very interesting is where and how these AI systems are used. Life outside of phones and PCs is a very real trend now with things like Google Home and Amazon Echo and Dot. Expect to see more of this in 2017.

Where the plot gets even thicker, however, is when we start to consider the other places these AI will inhabit in the coming years; places like inside cars and white label goods, for instance.

The grand plan is pretty simple: we’ve all seen 2001: A Space Odyssey – this is the end goal for AI; it will one day, in the not too distant future, become a non-local, almost-sentient AI system that is tied to you completely and goes everywhere with you inside a variety of interconnected products.

New Form Factors For Phones

Samsung is prepping a BIG step forwards in phone design. 2017 could well be the year we see the dawn of truly flexible phones and tablets – phones and tablets you can literally fold and roll up.

This will be big when it happens, as it will make existing phones look antiquated and dull. How it will all work and come together remains to be seen, but we do know Samsung has spent billions on R&D in this area and is keen to get something out in 2017, like under the Galaxy X brand.

4K Displays

4K displays in phones will leapfrog QHD, and the reason is VR.

Hardware company’s like Samsung, HTC and LG make money from hardware, so it stands to reason that they will want to flog you more hardware.

This is why smartwatches exist; no one wanted them and yet here they are, collecting dust on retail shelves the globe-over.

The same thing will happen with VR headsets, though these, with 4K displays at the core of the experience, actually have the potential to be useful and fun.

But in order to make the VR experience (when using a phone as the power source) any good, you need 4K, as even QHD, though super high resolution, doesn’t quite cut the mustard.

Apple Getting Interesting Again

Apple really went off the boil in 2016. The iPhone 7 was dull. It’s Mac releases weren’t great. The only remotely cool thing it did was release another iPad Pro model.

Things will hopefully get better in 2017, though. Word on the street suggests new and exciting iPhone releases, BIG updates to iMac, new product lines (AI, potentially) and a big update to the Apple Watch.

Did we miss anything? What are you looking forwards to most in 2017?