Have you ever experienced a “point in time” comparison?
It happened to me recently when I revisited Japan, almost exactly 19 years after my first trip. My second visit was just as amazing, but it also revealed a striking insight: the next “big tech revolution” isn’t artificial intelligence (AI), at least not in the way we might expect.
Instead, the true revolution lies elsewhere, in freeing us from our physical connection with smartphones!
A Tale of Two Visits: 2006 vs 2025
When I first visited Japan in 2006, it was an exhilarating but occasionally bewildering adventure. I vividly recall struggling with language barriers, navigating menus in restaurants, fumbling for cash at ATMs, visiting internet cafés to connect with home, deciphering complicated rail systems using printed maps, and relying on guidebooks like Fodor’s to discover things to see and do. If you haven’t seen it already, Lost in Translation is a great film, and accurate representation of being a tourist in Japan.
Communication with locals was often hit-or-miss, taxi rides were a gamble in translation, and finding your way required patience, paper, and persistence. A digital camera was essential for capturing memories, carefully conserved for fear of running out of film or battery.
Fast-forward almost two decades, and my recent journey to Japan was utterly transformed. The country remained as vibrant and fascinating as ever, but my experience was easier, smoother, and arguably richer; not because Japan had changed dramatically, but because technology had.
Today:
- Language barriers have fallen: my smartphone offered live translation on demand. Many restaurants had embraced tablet-based menus with English options, and a quick Google search in my own language surfaced the best places to eat nearby based on ratings
- Cash is no longer king: whilst I carried a little yen, my smartphone wallet handled nearly every transaction seamlessly
- Connectivity is ubiquitous: roaming on 5G ensured I was always online, always connected, but also always connected to home
- Tickets and passes are virtual: train tickets, attraction passes, and even my hotel room key were digital. QR codes got me through gates and keypads welcomed me at my human-less accommodation
- Navigation is dynamic and stress-free: maps in my language, real-time walking directions, and live transit updates sat at my fingertips, and seamlessly guided me through a labyrinth of platforms and streets
- Photography is effortless: my smartphone camera captured and organized high-quality memories instantly, and I could share moments instantaneously with family and friends through social media
What stood out wasn’t just how much easier these tools made life, which they clearly did, it was how quietly, how invisibly, they had become integral to the experience itself.
The Smartphone’s Quiet Revolution
The world itself has evolved to accommodate the smartphone
At the centre of this transformation was one key device: the smartphone. It, along with its larger sibling, the tablet, has reshaped our lives profoundly. But unlike headline-grabbing “moonshots,” this revolution has been incremental, its progress so smooth that we hardly noticed its scale.
Smartphones build upon an extraordinary lineage of prior innovations: microprocessors, digital displays, lithium batteries, touchscreens, robust software ecosystems, and ubiquitous communications networks (Wi-Fi and cellular).
The world itself has evolved to accommodate the smartphone:
- Airlines now issue electronic boarding passes.
- Charging ports, USB and wireless, are everywhere, including in aircraft seats and hotel lobbies
- In-flight Wi-Fi, streaming, and mobile communication are common
- Payments, once rooted in cash and then cards, are now dominated by contactless mobile wallets
In a very real sense, the smartphone has become a lens through which we engage with modern life.
As I look back I see this invisible but profound change and it echoes with Winston Churchill’s observation:
“The longer you can look back, the farther you can look forward.”
So what can we see, when we look forward?
AI: A Supporting Actor, Not the Star
Many people today assume that AI itself is the next seismic shift in technology. While there’s no doubt that AI is incredibly powerful, and will become even more so, it won’t replicate the kind of paradigm shift the smartphone delivered.
AI is more akin to the microchip: a foundational enabler, not the visible end-product.
It will quietly slip into the background, embedded into every device and service, making them smarter, more responsive, more predictive, but it won’t fundamentally change how we interact with the world, at least not in its current form.
Like the microchip, AI will power solutions across industries, transforming healthcare, finance, logistics, entertainment, and more. But the visible change for most of us will feel evolutionary, not revolutionary.
Soon, AI will be as ubiquitous and invisible as semiconductors are today, working tirelessly behind the scenes, enhancing the tools we already use.
What’s Next? The Post-Smartphone Era
When I walked the streets of Tokyo recently, I was struck not just by how much smartphones empower us, but also by their limitations.
Even in a country famed for its love of technology, smartphone zombies were everywhere: heads down, thumbs scrolling, eyes fixed on a small glass rectangle, disconnected from the physical world around them.
The very device that enables richer experiences also isolates us from those experiences.
This is where the next true step-change lies:
The future is about liberating us from screens while maintaining all the benefits of the digital world.
The Road Ahead: Giants We Still Need
So what might this look like? Here’s a glimpse at what could define this post-smartphone era:
- Natural interfaces: instead of tapping tiny keyboards, we’ll talk, gesture, or even think to interact with digital systems. Voice assistants will improve, yes, but imagine effortless communication with machines that understand not just words but context and intent
- Seamless translation: you’ll look at a menu or a conversation partner, and translations will appear naturally, in your field of vision or in your ears
- Invisible payments: No more fumbling for wallets, cards, or even phones. Payments will be authorized biometrically, via retina scans, fingerprints, or wearable sensors, securely and instantly
- Augmented reality navigation: rather than peering down at a map, directions will overlay your field of vision, showing you precisely where to walk, turn, or stop
- Lifelogging without distraction: instead of pausing to frame a photo or record a video, wearable devices or brain computer interfaces will unobtrusively record your experience in high fidelity, allowing you to “replay” your day exactly as you lived it
In short, the next wave of innovation will dissolve the boundary between the digital and physical worlds, allowing us to benefit from information without being consumed by it.
Why This Leap is Harder — And Why It Matters
But this leap won’t be easy. It requires entirely new platforms, new ways of thinking, and yes, more giants and more shoulders to stand upon.
We’ll need breakthroughs in battery life, miniaturization, optics, augmented reality, privacy safeguards, and neural interfaces. We’ll need cultural acceptance and regulatory frameworks to guide responsible use.
And crucially, these innovations must focus on enhancing our humanity, helping us be more present, more connected to each other and our environments, while quietly handling the digital heavy lifting in the background.
In Conclusion: Ubiquity, then Liberation
The smartphone’s quiet revolution is almost complete: it has reshaped global life in less than two decades, to the point where its contributions feel invisible.
AI is next, but like the microchip before it, AI will enhance everything around us, working invisibly to make systems smarter and more capable.
The real breakthrough ahead will come when we break free from screens altogether; when technology fades into the background, and we return our gaze to the world around us.
That is the next chapter in the evolution of technology:
- Ubiquity first, then liberation
- Technology not just in our pockets, but seamlessly integrated into our lives, empowering us to be more human, not less
When that day comes, we’ll look back on smartphone zombies and tiny glass screens the way we look at payphones and paper tickets today: useful, once… but no longer necessary.
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