As ever on the Tame Geek website, we firstly look back at the year that was, then take a view out on the year to come with some predictions.

Specifics

  • Updated iPads (including Pros) will be launched within the first three months of 2020, sometime in March:
    • They will focus on new camera tech (Pro models) and other ‘pro’ features
  • The Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) will take place in the first week of June, starting on the 1st of June 2020:
    • They will show us the next operating systems for all of the eco-system
    • There will be some new Mac hardware
  • The next generation of iPhones will be launched on the 8th of September 2020 and we will get:
    • At least three phones announced
    • Somewhat redesigned (more than the last three years!)
    • New Apple Watch with new health tech (maybe in the bands)
  • Long shot – At some point in the year, Apple will preview their AR tech in a headset. Reports have been that the launch has been pushed back by years, however, when Apple was launching the move to Intel chips, there was a developer-only Mac Pro released for development and transition. I wouldn’t be too surprised if Apple elects to do something similar with their AR hardware.
  • Samsung will launch another folding phone that won’t immediately break. This will likely become the fan-favorite, moving on from the Note series
  • In 2019 Google basically pre-announced Pixel 4 but in doing so, forgot to make a phone that was a real contender. Hopefully, lessons have been learned for 2020’s flagship

General

2020 sounds like a properly futuristic date. With that, we would hope that the world of flying cars, AI supercomputers, and technology solving/causing all problems, would be here by now, but it’s not.

However, we kind of do have these things. There is a lot of work going into making personal flight mobility a reality, it just doesn’t look like it does in the movies. Quantum computing has the potential to bring a level of computational power to the world that, without hyperbole, has the potential to change our world as profoundly as the internet has. Our AI super overlords are still far away but the algorithms that govern what we see as ‘news’ and advertising make people feel like the voice in their head is being monitored by advertising companies.

Remember ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic‘ and that is why something that is really futuristic, doesn’t seem so. The ability to hold up a slab of glass in front of your face and overlay the world with a new digital one is hugely futuristic. So remember, 2020 is the future, you’re living in it and it’s only going to get more futuristic.

Other trends to look out for are the closing grip of all our ecosystems further. Apple, Google, Microsoft, Disney, and Sony are all strengthening their positions as safe, warm and inescapable crystal prisons.

Tesla’s ‘shot over the bow’ of the automotive industry has sparked companies like Ford to pick up the pace and bring new electric vehicles to market. Adoption will stilly be slow due to the woefully slow rollout of infrastructure, so hopefully, we’ll see some changes there.

Everyone’s experience of technology is different and we’re now at the point where the iPhone as a product is a teenager this year and the iPad turns 10.

Think about what technology was around when you were 13 years old? You didn’t even call it technology, it was just stuff that existed. Now put yourself in the position of a 13-year-old today, who see things just the same as you did. However, now they can win over $1 Million playing games against other people from around the world on that ‘not technology’. That’s pretty damn futuristic.

Let’s see what 2020 holds together, shall we?