Tomorrow's tech is trying to be anything but a smartphone

Back when I was at university (around 400BC), there was something of a running joke among my flatmates—who were laughing with me, not at me, thank you very much—that I was addicted to screens. While most people had at least a laptop, as the resident tech nerd I was an early adopter of the likes of the smartphone, the tablet and the e-reader. So the fact that I'm feeling screened-out here and now in 2024 is saying something.

It's clear that the tech world is at an inflection point. The domination of the smartphone has been total – we're all now well used to spending far longer than we'd like staring at the tiny rectangle in our hands. Then we go to work at stare at the larger rectangle on our desks. Then we go outside to exercise, but not without logging it all via the tiny rectangle on our wrists. I generalise, of course – but it's felt for the last decade or so that every possible frontier of our lives has at last been assigned a screen. But that isn't stopping tech brands from inventing new screens – and perhaps also inventing our reasons for needing them.

VR headsets aren't new. But with Apple finally getting goggly in 2024 (in typical Apple style, having bided its time before swooping in with its own killer take on a nascent technology), they're surely about to hit the mainstream – as far as is possible at a starting price of $3,499. With its 3D movies and impressive animations and gesture-based controls, the whole thing certainly looks futuristic.

But whereas it was obvious where the likes of the Apple Watch (fitness) and iPhone (everything) might fit into our lives, it looks like Vision Pro is going to have a harder job justifying its own existence. Will it be a productivity beast? Not if the initial responses to the keyboard are anything to go by. And then there's the fact that this thing is majorly obtrusive (below). Whereas the Apple Watch and to the iPhone can disappear behind sleeves and in pockets, this thing sits right there on your face. And apparently it isn't even light. In other words, using Vision Pro is going to take effort – so it had better be incredible to justify that.

For a tech nerd who's been feeling increasingly conscious of his own screen time lately, the idea of slapping a couple of screens in front of my eyes sounds a little like the final boss battle of digital dystopia. But at least Vision Pro is offering something new in a way that sort of makes sense. It isn't trying to compete with the smartphone – it's promising an entirely different experience. But over the last year we've also seen a rise in 'alternative' gadgets claiming to sort of take on the smartphone.

The Rabbit R1 was one of the breakout hits of CES 2024, having sold out its initial batch of 10,000 units in one day. Our sister site TechRadar describes it as a "something like a smartphone, but with an intuitive, unified, AI-driven interface." It really does look sleek, and by all accounts the AI tech is impressive. But even after watching the entire Keynote video below, I'm not entirely sure what it does, or what it's solving for me. As one Twitter commenter asks, "Why can't this thing be just an app on my phone? Why do I need a separate device for this?"

Similar questions could be asked of Humane's Ai Pin, which wants to turn my hand into a screen (is nothing sacred?). The company calls it "A phone, a contextual computer, a platform... all in one", but in reality it sounds to me like another AI assistant that might not have necessitated actual hardware – and yet another thing to look at.

Perhaps I'm entering my 'Old man yells at cloud' era. I'm aware that my vibe appears to be 'stop inventing things'. But I don't think that's quite the case – I just prefer tech that solves obvious problems. Right now I have little desire to throw Apple's Vision Pro over my face, but it's entirely possible that, like the Apple Watch, as the product matures it will become clear exactly who, what and where it's for. (The Watch was initially pitched as a fashion item before Apple pivoted hard towards fitness). 

And the same is true of these new itty bitty AI things. Maybe, just maybe, they'll live up to the hype. But right now, I don't think there's room for another screen in my life – and if, instead of replacing my computer, tablet, iPhone or smartwatch, a newfangled gadget wants to squeeze and contort itself into one of the gaps between them, it had better make a compelling case for doing so.