8 bold tech predictions for 2024 – from MicroLED 4K TVs to DJI mirrorless cameras
The TechRadar staff has been considering this exact issue, and our most audacious technological forecasts for 2024 are shown here. We won't be focusing on the blatantly apparent tech headliners here; CES 2024, the Samsung Galaxy S24 (likely releasing in mid-January), and the eagerly anticipated release of the Apple Vision Pro—expected to be in stores in February—will undoubtedly take center stage throughout the first two months of the year.
However, perhaps not? Ultimately, we did not anticipate that in 2023 Apple would give in to pressure and declare that Android phones would now be able to send RCS messages. or letting its patent issues over the Apple Watch get to the point that it had to remove its two most popular versions from distribution.
1. Solid-state speakers will shake up the headphones world
2024 could see some significant advancements that shock the headphone industry. I believe there's a greater breakthrough that hasn't received as much attention as the audio chips from Qualcomm that can untether real lossless music from cables or the relatively unknown brand HED Unity that unveiled the world's first Wi-Fi lossless headphones. It has to do with the microscopic sound-producing speakers in your headphones.
These are known as drivers, and not much has changed about them since they were initially created. Today's most popular headphone drivers still force air through a diaphragm using magnets and a cone-shaped metal coil, but one startup has totally redesigned this process. xMEMS Labs has been developing an all-silicon solid-state speaker driver for over four years. Its latest generation prototype will be unveiled at CES 2024 in January, and the company intends to expand the technology's availability by the end of the following year.
Since these solid-state speakers are practically durable and promise to improve sound quality, manufacturers like Creative Labs and Singularity Industries have jumped at the chance to include them into their headphones. In 2024, additional are scheduled for release. If my assumption is correct, solid-state headphones will be discussed extensively in the near future.
2. MicroLED 4K TVs will break through at last
Since I don't think the TV industry will see many significant changes this year, the development of microLED TVs as a mainstream product would surprise me the most—yet it is still conceivable. Although I anticipate that they will still cost a great deal more than OLED or mini-LED screens, it will be a positive start if they can at least be made in TV sizes that are more typical than 100 inches. More importantly, it would be beneficial if they could eventually appear in stores so that others may witness their abilities. That might be the turning point for them to become more than just TV nerds like myself and something that people in general are interested about.
In case you're not aware, microLED TVs and OLED TVs share the feature of having individual light-emitting pixels, which results in "perfect" contrast. However, they have a far greater brightness range than OLED TVs—even greater than mini-LED TVs. They represent TVs of the future, and who knows? Maybe in 2024 the future will truly begin to appear.
3. DJI will finally disrupt mirrorless cameras
In addition to introducing the triple-camera DJI Mavic 3 Pro, our new favorite vlogging camera, the DJI Osmo Pocket 3, and an excellent GoPro substitute in the DJI Osmo Action 4, DJI had an incredible 2023. Although it has been a longstanding participant in those markets, we believe DJI has even more intriguing potential in 2024: upending the mirrorless camera industry.
DJI already possesses the essential parts to produce a distinctive mirrorless camera, and in 2019 it received a patent for a camera that bears a striking resemblance to the Hasselblad X1D. Could a brand-new, portable full-frame sensor camera from DJI also incorporate its remarkable Ronin 4D cinema camera technology to capture 8K video?
4. Matter will actually live up to its smart home potential
The idea that Matter, the world's new standard for smart homes, would begin to significantly impact our lives in 2024 may not seem farfetched. Unfortunately, Matter hasn't lived up to the expectations set forth in 2023, and it's unclear if things will change in that regard in the following year.
Launched in the end of 2022, Matter's concept was to use smart home technology to address all of our problems. These consist of rival apps, proprietary hubs, and a lack of system interoperability. It hasn't actually accomplished anything till date, which isn't that remarkable given that it has the official support of all the major players, including Samsung, Google, Amazon, Apple, Philips Hue, and more.
There's a chance that Matter will just keep becoming irrelevant and that its waning momentum will come to an end. However, there are other causes for hope: at CES 2023 last year, Matter-compatible gadgets ruled the show, and since CES 2024 approaches quickly, the standard is undoubtedly ready to energize the numerous smart home exhibitors at the largest technology event in the world. For the sake of our sanity with our smart homes, at least, that's what we're hoping.
5. Samsung will launch an AR/VR headset that runs Quest software
I believe the full splendor of Samsung's alternative to Apple Vision Pro will be shown in 2024. While a full release might not be possible, at the very least, there will be an announcement similar to the Vision Pros at WWDC 2023.
I predict that when it is unveiled, a high-end headset that falls somewhere between the Vision Pro and Meta Quest Pro in terms of cost and functionality will be on display. With Samsung's experience in this field, amazing displays are probably in store, and the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 or a brand-new Qualcomm CPU (perhaps an XR2+ Gen 2) will probably power it.
To make this forecast even more audacious, however, it will run the Quest platform from Meta. In terms of software selection, functionality, and design, Meta's VR OS is the greatest available, therefore a Samsung headset that runs on this platform is probably superior than one that doesn't. Although Meta's hardware benefits greatly from its OS being exclusive, it is a tool that it might license to other companies in order to help its Reality Labs subsidiary bring in some much-needed cash.
6. Voice assistants will be reborn, but won’t be much smarter
Do you recall voice assistants? Back in the day, Alexa and Siri were the original AI buzzwords, but now days, they've mostly been limited to kitchen timer duties. That will undoubtedly change in 2024, though, if the claims about Apple getting ready to revamp Siri with AI-powered capabilities in time for WWDC 2024 are accurate, and Amazon has already given a sneak peek at Alexa AI, are accurate.
Our prediction is that these 'new' voice assistants won't be all as useful compared to their current iterations, even with some amazing repackaging and improved conversational skills. One of the primary causes of this is that on-device AI seems to be the trend in smartphones; while this is excellent for privacy, its limits in terms of memory and processing capacity produce a performance bottleneck.
It appears plausible that advancements in this field will be made in 2024 given how remarkable ChatGPT's (free) voice capabilities are today and how much money Google, Samsung, and Apple are investing in LLMs (large language models). However, since we're speculating heavily on technology, we're going with our gut feeling that there won't be much advancements in the real world this year, despite the huge hoopla surrounding voice assistants.
7. Deepfakes will derail the US election
Given the rapid advancement of AI technology and its growing accessibility for non-expert users in 2023, it is reasonable to argue that deepfakes pose a significant threat to the integrity of elections in the US and other countries.
Powerful machine learning tools have made it easier than ever to mass-manufacture deepfakes, which are fake images, videos, and audio of real people. It's likely that in the lead-up to the 2024 election, we'll see an abundance of phony voice recordings and videos featuring prominent politicians and other public figures.
Disinformation of this kind is not new; everytime an election is held almost anywhere in the globe, dishonest people always try to mislead and confuse voters. However, given the remarkable powers of emerging AI tools, it will be harder than before to tell the real from the fake. To avoid falling for the newest online scam, we'd advise you to double-check everything you see or hear a politician say and make sure you only obtain your election news from official sources.
And finally, a very bold tech prediction for 2024..
8. A digital double will be elected to Congress in the US
Digital twins and AI identities will be popular in 2024. Put an end to deepfakes when your face appears on someone else's actual body. Digi-doubles are fully realized digital representations of you, or your idealized self. It won't be limited to the strange appearance, either. Robust AI will inform digital double involvement; it will comprehend not only the speech and movement of real people, but also your potential speech, actions, and movements.
Someone will eventually create a hybrid digital duplicate that combines the greatest (or worst) aspects of several distinct persons. Let's call this AI persona Clyde Smoresly, and it will run for Congress in a rural upstate district of New York State. Smoresly thinks that everyone is okay with him merely being present on screen. He will appear on screen for TV interviews, debates, and even certain campaign events where he will be suddenly detained due to bad weather.
There will be charisma, intelligence, and eloquence in Clyde Smoresly. Once in office, he will be greeted with a 100% voting record and attendance record.
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