Like death and taxes, gadget upgrade cycles are inevitable; some are so incremental to hardly warrant more than a swift glance, while others change rough diamonds into polished products hewn from industrial design.
The swathe of upgrades on the cards for 2017, seems to be in the latter camp and should usher in technology that will help people work faster and play harder. We have selected ten of the most noteworthy upgrades for your perusal.
Rumoured to have display that takes up most of the front of the phone, an artificial intelligence-powered virtual assistant, and rapid Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, amongst a slew of regular upgrades to its innards, the Galaxy S8 should be much more than just the iterative upgrade the Galaxy S7 was over the seminal Galaxy S6.
More interesting still, it the Galaxy S8 is mostly likely going to be where Samsung debuts the virtual assistant it has been working on to take on Apple’s Siri and the Google Assistant. There are also rumour that the new Galaxy will come with a connector that allows it to be used with a monitor, mouse and keyboard to create a pseudo desktop PC experience in a pocket-sized device, which could evolve how smartphones are used as productivity tools.
However, it could be argued that Apple’s iPhone 7 failed to offer much over its predecessor, with the 4.7 inch model yet to make the jump to a full HD display while rival phones offer QHD or 2K resolutions. The addition of waterproofing and the removal of the headphone jack may have shaken the iPhone’s feature set up a little, but for people expecting a big shift in the phone’s tech, disappointment was dish of the day.
As such, the next iPhone could be a significant upgrade over its predecessor, offering a sharper display, smarter Siri, and some form of feature that distinguished it from its rivals. That being said, some Apple fans are so committed to the brand than eve if the iPhone’s battery is improved a little, they will snap the premium smartphone up.
A Surface Pro 5 would doubtless make use of Intel’s Kaby Lake 7th generation processors to balance power and energy efficiency, which would in turn give scope for the Redmond company to reduce the bulk and weight of its tablet.
While we don’t predict any radical overhauls to the Surface Pro 4, we expect the keyboard cover with be tweaked to be more responsive and pleasurable to type on, as well as an improved stylus, longer battery life and potentially a bigger and sharper resolution display, no that the Surface Pro 4 was any slouch in that department.
We would not be surprised to see the Surface Pro 5 make heavy use USB Type-C ports rather than the older USB 3.0 ports, though we do not believe Microsoft will ‘do an Apple’ and get rid of the classic USB port all together.
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