The world is always changing, but the tech world changes faster than most. In this video, we’re going to go through all the top trends that will take the tech industry by storm next year. Let’s dive in.
Web 3.0
Web 3.0 is a buzzword that you might have heard of, but what does it mean? Well, to understand that, first let’s go over what Web 2.0 is. Web 2.0 is the current state of the internet, where content is user-generated. So you have social media, where you can put up tweets or pictures or videos, and interact with other users on the internet. However, the content is all hosted in servers owned by Twitter, or Meta, or Google and so on.
Which is to say, it is centralised. Web 3.0 focuses on decentralisation, so the companies known as ‘Big Tech’ won’t have as much power over your data. Critics of Web 3.0, however, have pointed out that this decentralisation makes it very difficult to regulate, and thus making it difficult to prevent cybercrime, harassment, or hate speech.
Web 3.0 is still mostly a set of ideas with very little put into practice, so over next year, we should get more of an idea about what this new internet will actually look like - for better, or for worse.
Also Watch: Year Ender 2021: These were the best smartphones of the year
Metaverse
On 29th October, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook is changing its name to Meta, and will focus on the metaverse going forward. After that, well, you can see for yourself how the term exploded. (showing Google Trends screenshot here)
So, what is the metaverse? Well, it’s the idea of the internet as seen through a virtual reality world, where everyone has a digital avatar. So, you exist in the metaverse, as a character which you can customise, and you interact with it through a VR headset, and some sort of controller. Your friends exist as virtual avatars too, and you can meet up with them, do activities, maybe attend class, all in the metaverse.
It's still early days but as more and more companies start adopting the metaverse, it will become more of a reality.
NFTs
NFTs or non-fungible tokens, are likely to be the next big thing, just like cryptocurrency was. Or, they’ll all go bust in a few months and everyone will lose their money. Nobody knows. But either way, the NFT is sure to be on the tip of everyone’s tongue in 2022. So, what is an NFT?
Essentially, they're unique blockchain tokens, in that if you have an NFT, it is the only one of its kind in the world, with no duplicates. The owner of this NFT is recorded as you on the blockchain. This has been most popularly used to sell digital art, where the buyer gets a unique token that says they are the owner of said digital artwork. NFTs have been sold for millions of dollars already, with many celebrities across the world, including India, launching their own NFTs.
The idea of a unique token, which is non-fungible, is definitely one that can re-imagine what our internet looks like. Hopefully, in 2022, it will be used for more than selling dubiously priced digital art.
Also Watch: Best upcoming smartphones of 2022!
Under display camera
For years now, smartphone manufacturers have been chasing the holy grail - an all-screen device with a completely uninterrupted display. Although some have succeeded in achieving this with a pop-out camera, the ideal method has always been an under-display camera. Currently, there are still some trade-offs with this technology.
Samsung included it for the inner display in the Galaxy Z Fold 3, and while it works, camera quality takes a hit, and the screen loses pixel density around the camera area. Other companies, like Xiaomi and ZTE, have tried their own version of the tech. Oppo has shown off a concept which they claim doesn’t lose display density. Hopefully, in 2022, we’ll get closer to the ideal of an under-display camera, which doesn’t compromise on either camera quality, or display quality.
125W and 200W charging
Fast charging is getting really, really fast these days, and it should only get faster in 2022. This may be the year we get mainstream flagship phones with 125W charging. There have been some rumours that the next flagship phones from OnePlus and Oppo could come with 125W charging support, which could take batteries from 0 - 100 in around 15 minutes.
Xiaomi has shown off the concept of 200W charging, which can take their test phone’s battery from 0 - 100 in just 8 minutes. While there are concerns about long term battery life with charging this fast, it seems like smartphone manufacturers will stop at nothing to bring charging times down to an absolute minimum.
Ransomware attacks
Ransomware is when a virus takes over your computer’s files, shutting you out of your own PC, unless you pay a ransom. These viruses normally encrypt a computer’s files, meaning that it’s very difficult, if not outright impossible, to remove them without paying the money.
India is one of the worst-hit countries by ransomware. Acronis Cyberthreats Report 2022 says that the rate of ransomware detection in India has doubled to 7.34% in Q3 2021 from 3.65% in Q2 2021, which makes it the fourth worst-hit country by ransomware in Asia.
The report also mentions that ransomware continues to be the number one threat to big and medium businesses, including government, healthcare, and other critical organisations.
As cybersecurity researchers continue to play a cat and mouse game with hackers, ransomware attacks could well continue into 2022.
