Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg surprisingly agree on one thing: smartphones, as we know them, may have their days numbered. Although it seems unimaginable today to picture a society without these devices, technology moves at an unstoppable pace, making it not so far-fetched to envision a future where some other innovation takes their place.
However, while the three visionaries concur on the inevitable decline of smartphones, they sharply disagree on what will come next. Each has a distinct theory, and the big question is: who will be right? Because, let’s face it, it’s unlikely that all three will hit the mark simultaneously.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, bets on augmented reality (AR) glasses as the natural successors to smartphones. He even dares to set a timeline for this shift: sometime within the next decade. For Zuckerberg, mobile phones are “small, distracting, and pull people away from face-to-face interactions.” AR glasses, on the other hand, would blend more seamlessly into daily life, merging the digital and physical worlds. Nevertheless, his vision faces a challenge: a history of failed attempts, like 3D glasses for movies, which never truly captivated the public.
Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, takes an even more futuristic stance: smart tattoos. According to Gates, these devices, still in development, would be far more personalized, allowing technology to be literally embedded in the skin. Of course, the big question here is whether society will embrace such an intimate level of tech integration right away or if skepticism will slow down its adoption.
Elon Musk, true to his cyberpunk style, pushes the concept even further. For him, the future lies in Neuralink and brain-computer interfaces. Musk envisions a world where digital connections happen directly through the human brain, eliminating the need for smartphones or even most other devices. Naturally, while the idea is fascinating, it still sounds more like science fiction than an everyday reality—for now.
So, who will be right? Zuckerberg, Gates, Musk… or none of them. There’s always the possibility that an entirely unexpected technology will take the lead, or that, against all odds, smartphones will continue to reign. It wouldn’t be the first time a medium predicted to “die” has survived—just look at television and radio.
And then, there’s the wildcard: a less technological future. As improbable as it sounds, more young people are embracing analog devices, distrusting AI, or even switching to so-called “dumb phones.” Stranger things have happened!
Whether the future will be more digital, more connected, or perhaps simpler and more analog remains to be seen. The only certainty is that technology never ceases to surprise us.
