> At this point, it’s not really possible to revolutionize the smartphone
I see this sentiment batted around quite a bit these days. Just because nobody has revolutionized the smartphone in the past few years doesn't mean it's not possible.
I see this sentiment batted around quite a bit these days. Just because nobody has revolutionized the smartphone in the past few years doesn't mean it's not possible.
To pick three innovative features that have made it into real smartphones, you can look at the Samsung Galaxy Beam pico projector, Jolla's 'The Other Half', and the YotaPhone E-Ink backscreen. Some would argue that these are gimmicks, but isn't all innovation a little gimmicky before it reaches mass market adoption (I'd argue camera phones were in this category originally, and they certainly aren't gimmicks anymore).
Jolla's The Other Half is especially interesting, as it allows for people to personalise the functionality of their phone (along with the look). Whether it takes off or not remains to be seen.
It's hard to say absolutes about the future.
It's always tricky anticipating the point of sufficiency. Probably because it's a moving target.
Besides I'm not sure that the iPhone was such low hanging fruit. It probably cost Apple a tonne of R&D and effort to research and build and was ahead of its time by at least a good couple of years.