Future Smartphones – all about Bendable Displays, e-SIMs, Sensors and Graphene

With rapid advancement in smartphone technology, future looks to be even more exciting and full of ‘out of the box innovations’.

In a discussion with Zia Askari from TelecomDrive.com - Leon Zhang, Marketing Head, Meizu speaks about the kind of future innovations that are likely to create big disruptions in the smartphone space of tomorrow.

What are some of the big smartphone innovations that are likely to change the dynamics on customer experience of future?

New launches may include features such as Waterproof technology, bendable displays, e-sim than physical sim, 6GB or 8GB RAM variant, depth cameras, real 4k screens etc., but the real pleasure will be, when people can start controlling their home devices through intelligent remote control system of their smartphones.

Moreover, it might be possible too that these intelligent control system of the smartphones may start understanding user behaviour and then by advance prediction of behaviour, they will start working on any particular device automatically.

We at Meizu, are trying our best to give such kind of experience to our customers, and our R&D centres are all geared up to bring those innovations in the market as soon as possible.

The pace at which smartphone penetration is increasing – its computing power and application handling capabilities are also getting enhanced with time. What according to you are the big drivers for mass acceptance of smartphones of future?

In an economy like India, where there is a Tsunami of Start-ups and people being such a tech savvy, for mass acceptance, it is very necessary that these smartphones support maximum storage space, have the inbuilt capability to easily analyse big data structures, and have a faster & widely available 4G LTE network.

However, the most important driver in the acceptance is the availability of a features filled smartphone at a nominal price.
In fact, after understanding these needs only, Meizu has recently launched its "M3 note - Long Lasting Beauty" at a very nominal price of Rs 9999/- in the Indian market, which is a 3GB RAM variant having all network bands including 4G LTE Band .

If we look back – there were many smartphones made of plastic – today it is all about glass and metal. What is your opinion on the materials which can be used to make smartphones of future?

Material is very carefully selected and processed when any smartphone is made. It is just not about plastic, glass or metal, but about giving a strength to the device and more user friendly experience.

Thus, in future, to give more strength to the phone, different materials may be used such as smartphone screens may be made up of material like sapphire for stronger strength and light weight, its body could utilise a material called graphene which will make it almost an unbreakable phone.

Moreover, since globally there is a huge environment concern, so companies will try to come up with some environment friendly material too having zero damages.

What are some of your innovations on these directions? How are you as a brand working towards delivering the best quality to your customers?

Customer delight is our main focus. We want our customers to not only enjoy the best technology in their smartphones but also the best hardware. We customise our systems, and our Flyme UI bring a good user experience to our customers. The main idea behind launching any new Meizu product is to give our customers an unmatched quality and a features filled product in a very nominal price range.

How important is the design element while performing the R&D on smartphones today? Please share your design roadmap for the coming year? How can design create big market differentiations?

Design plays a key role in purchasing behaviour of the consumer and smartphones has come in the limelight firstly because of its unique design and style only. Our R&D focuses a lot in developing a user friendly unique design smartphone.

If you look at the Meizu mobile variants, we have given them a metal finish out look which has enhanced the beauty of the product to much extent. In fact, our all variants are a perfect example of sleek, beautifully designed smartphones having a best Flyme UI. In future, we will bring the best products, in terms of looks or user experience, and Indian market would definitely love to carry Meizu products.

As we are moving towards an IoT era - experts say that future smartphones will be a powerhouse of sensors that will instantaneously speak with multiple set of devices and perform critical tasks for users. Please share your thoughts on this?

As I mentioned above, new innovations in smartphone may have a contextual sensing ability, that smartphones will not only be able to respond to the user's need but will also work even on an emotional level.

To be a multitasker, today's generation wants those kind of innovations where devices can automatically understand what next has to be done on their behalf, which ultimately can save their time. Thus, if at any time, smartphones will become a sensor hub, then it will exactly do the same thing which the user wanted, by making each interconnected devices work efficiently, smartly and speedily.