The year 2022 has left us and the year 2023 is now starting with so far no bad news reported. The pandemic is getting under control (except in China) and many of us have returned to pre-Covid-19 conditions. This gives new hope that 2023 will be better than the dismal 2020, challenging 2021 and 2022 that provides the light at the end of the tunnel. Here are some of our predictions for technology in 2023.
1.5G Will Disappoint
5G will disappoint you, me, them and their families in 2023. This is because many of the sweet promises about 5G are not actually needed by the average user. The ability to download a single 4K movie in seconds? Have you ever in your life sat bored at home and shouted "why didn't this movie download for 10 seconds?". Can't imagine what the advantage of downloading is when we are now in the streaming era where 5G speed is not needed at all. 4G alone is more than enough. Fast 8K HDR streaming? Which services offer it in Malaysia? ZERO!
Self-driving cars? Level 5 doesn't exist anymore and you wouldn't be able to buy this car even if it existed. Online medicine? Still at the test stage in some national medical institutions. Teleconferencing more smoothly? We are already in the third year of the pandemic and teleconferences and online meetings are becoming less and less used.
Why will continue to disappoint? We only look to China and the United States to see the future of the country's 5G. The speed is inconsistent, not as fast as promised, the monthly subscription price is getting more expensive and 4G is getting more rubbish. 5G is an established and necessary technology for humanity to move forward. But the analogy is like an 8.0L quad-turbocharged W16 Bugatti Veyron engine. It's a fast powerful engine with the latest technology but 99% of people on earth don't need it for daily use. That's 5G.
2. Smartphone prices will be cheaper
Know that the average price of smartphones is increasing. Many phones that are often discounted at the end of the year are suddenly priced up. Almost all manufacturers readjusted prices higher due to supply chain issues, increasingly expensive components and handling of Covid-19 in China.
In 2023 devices will again become more affordable. It can already be seen that flagship devices in China are being sold at pre-2020 pocket-friendly prices. The supply chain issue has been resolved and now there is also chip dumping which causes the selling price to be cheaper. The value of the Ringgit is also increasing helping to reduce the selling price. With smartphone sales throughout 2022 lower than in 2022 (due to the economy and prices), 2023 will force manufacturers to offer new devices this year at more rational prices.
3. 1″ Camera Sensor Used More Widely
The era of 200MP sensors started last year through phones released by Motorola and Xiaomi. But we feel a more important era is the use of 1″ sensors on flagship class devices. Consumers are increasingly aware that Megapixel size is no longer the most important factor in a camera. We can see mirrorless cameras on the market that on average have a small Megapixel size but a larger physical size.
The year 2023 will see more widespread use of 1″ sensors. Sony doubled down on producing 1″ sensors for smartphones last year and it will become even more popular this year. You can see the difference in picture sharpness on the Xiaomi 12S and last year's Sony Xperia 1 IV. The iPhone flagship may also finally make the jump to the 1″ world this year with Tim Cook having paid a visit to Sony Imaging a few weeks ago.
The one that will not use this sensor is definitely Samsung because ISOCELL has not yet released a sensor of this size and they believe Megapixels are more important. Google will also stick with small sensors as it bets on fully computational imaging. The Pixel 7 and Pixel 6A won the picture test despite using small sensors. There will be many articles on Megapixel vs. sensor size this year. Just wait until we get to test it ourselves.
4. More Scams Online
Last year online scams were growing with every week there were only scam calls about LHDN, undelivered packages, police summons and other scams. We predict this situation will worsen in 2023 due to several factors.
The first factor is that the personal data of millions of users in Malaysia was leaked last year and there is only a new database that has been sold online to interested parties. There is new data which means there are new individuals who will become victims. Despite various campaigns carried out by the government to fight online fraud, many are still affected because they no longer read newspapers let alone follow official channels that give warnings.
Then it is driven by many people who want to get rich quickly. Last year NFT and crypto fraud schemes became the most profitable modus operandi as many lost control for a moment like Butterfingers because they wanted high profits in a short time. Next year will be the same as the value of crypto is expected to rise again.
5. Larger Storage
The basic storage on the phone will get bigger. Why? Because just like 32GB, and 64GB used to be normal, 128GB storage is now too small for a premium and flagship mid-range smartphone. At least 256GB is required for modern phones because data transfers from older phones and devices now take photos and videos at the highest resolution.
Last year we reviewed a lot of devices with 128GB storage. After the process of restoring Android data from the cloud, only 20-40GB of space is left for use. This is not enough for a year let alone a phone song that is usually bought to be used for a minimum of 3 years. It's even more tragic when you think that modern phones no longer come with micro SD cards. So we predict 256GB will be the minimum storage size on flagship devices in 2023.
6. Better Windows ARM Laptops
Laptop offerings with ARM chips are still anemic and embarrassing more than five years since they were launched. The Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 chip that was announced early last year is only used in a handful of Windows on ARM laptops. Its still-unsatisfying performance isn't helped by native app support that's still woeful.
With Apple moving fully to the ARM architecture via Apple Silicon chips two years ago, it should begin a similar evolution on the Windows platform. In 2023, Qualcomm is expected to launch an ARM processor for their laptops that can compete with the Apple M1 chip. After taking over Nuvia which designs Apple's chips they are expected to be able to produce chips with similar performance.
Apple proved with good software support that high-power chips and save battery consumption can be produced. MacBook sales soared after the introduction of Apple Silicon. In 2023, we will finally have a long awaited competitor.