Indian Express’ Anuj Bhatia predicts 5 tech trends that will dominate 2026

Nevertheless, if AI outlined 2025, this 12 months is more likely to be extra decisive and surprising, as synthetic intelligence strikes past chatbots and smartphones to create completely new product classes — ones that had been teased for years however by no means really materialised from a client perspective.

However 2026 isn’t going to be a few single pattern. Will probably be formed by a mixture of concepts, a few of which can or could not work, however would keep and will form the non-public know-how market and social media.

AI-generated content material now dominates our social media feeds. (Screenshot taken on the iPhone Air)

Get used to AI movies on social media. They’re right here to remain

I used to be scrolling by way of Instagram the opposite day when my eyes landed on a video that includes two infants participating in playful banter (exactly the form of content material that will get most views in India) portrayed as a girlfriend and boyfriend. I will need to have watched a number of of these brief movies earlier than realising they had been generated by synthetic intelligence, and solely after paying shut consideration did I discover delicate modifications that had been barely seen with out a side-by-side comparability.

Since then, AI-generated movies have taken over my feed, particularly clips of cartoony cats dancing to songs from Dhurandhar. I keep in mind I joined Instagram (not formally, however by way of an invisible account) to look at movies of lion cubs, and now there are AI-generated variations of these movies as effectively, principally humorous and innocent.

With platforms themselves encouraging AI movies, and instruments like OpenAI’s Sora able to producing movies of nearly something in only a few minutes, thousands and thousands of customers will inevitably be fooled into considering AI-generated movies are actual. In India, hardly any such movies carry warning labels, making them virtually indistinguishable from actuality. That might pose an actual downside, blurring the strains of what individuals can belief.

This raises a critical query: it gained’t be about whether or not you may inform the distinction between what’s actual and what’s not, however whether or not AI-generated movies change {our relationships} with different people and have an effect on how we understand the world round us.

The common promoting value of smartphones in 2026 is predicted to rise, accoriding to consultants. (Picture credit score: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Specific)

Pay extra for smartphones and laptops

The 12 months has simply begun, and I’m already receiving feelers from my sources about a rise in smartphone and laptop computer costs, and it gained’t be short-lived. The pattern might proceed for nearly your entire 12 months. For common patrons, telephones already price a month’s wage, and though many Indians buy them on EMIs, possession nonetheless comes at a hefty price.

Given the present scarcity of reminiscence chips, greater reminiscence prices are more likely to be handed on to shoppers, which, in flip, will drive up the common promoting costs of smartphones. That is primarily because of a scarcity of reminiscence chips, significantly dynamic random-access reminiscence (DRAM), which is utilized in AI information centres and can also be essential for smartphones. Currently, DRAM costs have surged as demand has outstripped provide, pushing up part prices.

The most important reminiscence chip suppliers are prioritising information centre and AI corporations which can be flush with money, and this scarcity is predicted to final till a minimum of 2027. I’m advised that the majority smartphones launching early this 12 months will likely be costlier, although corporations are more likely to sweeten offers with tempting cashback provides and EMIs.

I’ve additionally heard that smartphone costs, particularly within the low- to mid-range section, will rise as soon as corporations exhaust their current inventory. Additionally it is attainable for smartphone manufacturers to launch telephones with stripped-down RAM. Laptops, significantly gaming-focused fashions which can be memory-hungry, might also see greater value tags.

Silicon Valley is pinning its hopes on sensible glasses, believing they might in the future substitute our smartphones. (Picture credit score: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Specific)

Good glasses are coming on your face

Sufficient of apps and the talk over whether or not so as to add a telephoto lens to a smartphone or how skinny a telephone may be. For 2026 and past, tech corporations are pumped as much as discover methods to promote sensible glasses on your face.

Whereas mixed-reality headsets by no means actually took off and augmented actuality glasses are nonetheless years away from turning into mainstream, within the rapid future (particularly all through this 12 months) I foresee tech corporations going all in on sensible glasses, providing completely different capabilities comparable to small heads-up shows, AI options, built-in cameras, audio-only, and each tethered and wi-fi designs throughout different value factors, from mainstream and inexpensive to luxurious.

Meta has already proved that there’s a market, even when nonetheless a tiny one, for sensible glasses with its Ray-Ban and Oakley fashions. Others will observe swimsuit and launch new sensible glasses, ideally designed to be worn all day, on daily basis. Simply don’t anticipate sensible glasses to exchange your smartphone but.

Nevertheless, tech corporations are already plotting methods to promote fundamental sensible glasses that work as companions, very similar to your earbuds, smartwatch, or sensible ring, and ultimately attain a stage the place they turn out to be as succesful as a smartphone.

Proper now, whether or not you agree or not, sensible glasses are precisely the place function telephones as soon as had been, and it could take a very long time earlier than they turn out to be as superior as trendy smartphones.

An Optimus humanoid robotic on show at a Tesla retailer within the Meatpacking District in New York. (Picture credit score: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Specific)

Robots to invade houses

I could sound a bit futuristic, however this time I’ll take the aspect of Elon Musk. Because the billionaire CEO has been saying for years, he envisions a world stuffed with humanoid robots. Whereas that will not occur anytime quickly, as mainstream adoption remains to be years away, there’s rising curiosity amongst Silicon Valley corporations and European startups in significantly contemplating humanoids as the following massive factor.

This additionally ties into how China has made humanoid robots a strategic precedence in its tech battle with the US, although that’s a dialogue for one more day. For now, early investments in humanoids are more likely to start with experiments aimed toward bringing house robots to shoppers. Consider what Amazon did with Astro (a display screen on wheels powered by the corporate’s Alexa voice software program) a number of years in the past.

The concept is to construct robots with superior cameras and laptop imaginative and prescient software program that may navigate houses very similar to self-driving vehicles. We are going to possible begin listening to from the world’s greatest tech corporations and client equipment makers about how they plan to convey AI-infused house robots as early as CES 2026, which takes place in Las Vegas in early January.

Evidently, Apple can also be occupied with private robotics, and is rumoured to be engaged on a tabletop AI companion described as an iPad on a movable robotic arm. It’s one house I’m personally enthusiastic about, after seeing a humanoid robotic in Shenzhen, China, final 12 months.

Apple has an actual alternative with the iPhone Fold, although questions stay about the way it manages to distinguish it from the competitors. (Picture created by ChatGPT)

Foldables to get a second probability

Let’s get it straight: foldables are an fascinating product class, however I hardly see them as being very completely different from present smartphones. This may occasionally not sit effectively with many shoppers, particularly those that have invested in costly foldables — I actually use a Pixel 10 Professional Fold and a Galaxy Z Fold 7.

The primary downside with foldables is the software program, which, evidently, holds them again and raises questions on whether or not the excessive value is justified. It’s positively not the chunky, heavy construct, a problem Samsung has largely solved or the value level, which Motorola has addressed extra aggressively in recent times. Sure, the display screen crease subject persists, and I hope it, too, will get resolved with the upcoming foldables.

Personally, the person interface on foldables nonetheless underwhelms. I’m pinning my hopes on Apple, which might lastly resolve the UI downside and enhance how apps behave on a bigger display screen when it launches its first foldable this 12 months – assuming the rumours transform true.

One method to handle the software program subject on a foldable iPhone could be to borrow components from each iOS and iPadOS. It could be nice to see desktop-grade apps that aren’t accessible on the iPhone, correct full-window multitasking, and optimum exterior show assist on the iPhone Fold. That might be a dream iPhone for me, and I’d be prepared to go away my iPhone Air for it.