As we prepare for 2025, we have some big thoughts on our mind like what other AI innovations will we see next, will wearables get the upgrades we’re waiting for, and what will be the price of, well, everything? We sat down with The Verge staff to hear about what they think will happen in the biggest technology sectors in the next year.
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00:00Okay, hold up, hold up, that was all last year.
00:22Here at The Verge, we like to focus on the future.
00:25So we asked our reporters to tell us their predictions for 2025.
00:30My pick is more advanced health features and FDA clearances.
00:33So the big thing in wearable and health tech is this very slow race toward advanced medical
00:40adjacent features.
00:41Let's face it, on the hardware front, health and fitness wearables have gotten pretty good.
00:45It's just battery life and tweaks to screens going forward.
00:49So to differentiate themselves, I think you're going to see companies really dive in on pursuing
00:54FDA cleared features.
00:55This year, Apple and Samsung introduced sleep apnea detection and Google had loss of pulse
01:00detection on the Pixel Watch 3.
01:02On the more niche side, Dexcom and Abbott both released over-the-counter continuous
01:06glucose monitors for type 2 diabetics who don't use insulin and non-diabetics.
01:11The thing all this tech has in common is it's meant to flag potential health issues before
01:16they become big problems.
01:18And while this isn't a new trend, you're going to see companies doubling or even tripling
01:23down on this particular frontier.
01:25And with all the recent buzz around AI, I think you're also going to see companies
01:29going a bit deeper with AI fitness, health, diet suggestions, or even chatbots built within
01:35the app.
01:36Basically, anything to get you wearing devices 24-7 and obsessing over a continuous stream
01:42of health metrics.
01:44Physical keys, your days are numbered.
01:47Smart door locks are one of the simplest, most compelling smart home devices.
01:51They make it easy for you to get into your home without having to carry a key, let other
01:55people in at any time without being there, and give you a host of new ways to control
02:00your door.
02:01This year saw the launch of dozens of new smart locks featuring a myriad of smarter
02:06ways to control the door, from keypads, fingerprint readers, and Apple's HomeKey, to one lock
02:12that uses your face as the key.
02:14But next year will be the year of the smart lock, thanks to a new standard being developed
02:19by Apple, Google, Samsung, and all the major lockmakers, called Allero.
02:26Using NFC and UWB technologies, Allero, which means access in Esperanto, will make your
02:32phone, watch, or similar device be a key for your front door, so you can just tap to unlock
02:39like you tap to pay.
02:41Apple already has this in its iPhones and Apple Watches on some locks, but with Allero,
02:46this tech will quickly become mainstream, and even extend beyond the home to places
02:51like your office and gym, so we can finally dump those physical keys.
02:56Game-changing AI features.
02:58Apple intelligence can unlock even more intelligence.
03:01Generative AI at the scale of human curiosity.
03:05We heard all about AI in 2024.
03:08Every smartphone maker told us that their AI smartphones were going to change everything.
03:14Right now we have notification summaries, robots can write your email, and you can make
03:20pictures of your food look disgusting.
03:23So no, I don't think we're there yet.
03:26The thing is, I think AI could really change how we use our phones, but it needs to prove
03:30itself and 2025 is really going to be a do or die moment.
03:34Apple's smarter Siri will get new abilities in 2025 so it can actually do things for you.
03:42Samsung keeps saying it's going to make Bixby a thing finally, so maybe we'll see that in
03:47the S25 series.
03:49And then Google has AI everywhere, all over its phones, and maybe 2025 will be the year
03:55that Gemini can pull it all together.
03:57That's a lot of maybes, so there's obviously still a lot to prove.
04:01We need to find out if hallucination is going to be a big problem.
04:05We don't know if these features are going to be locked behind subscription fees.
04:09And we just don't know if AI can do everything that these phone makers are hoping it can do.
04:14They've been talking a big game, but AI needs to actually show up in 2025, because I think
04:20people are going to start losing patience, and I know I will.
04:27For a generation, the world has largely run on Windows PCs with Intel inside.
04:32It's such a dominant duo, the phrase Wintel was coined.
04:36While Intel rival AMD sometimes manages to break 20% market share, Intel has never given
04:41up the lead.
04:42But now, Wintel is under fire from practically every direction.
04:46Apple and Qualcomm have finally scaled their phone chips into real competition in the laptop
04:50space with unheard-of battery life.
04:53AMD is increasingly winning against Intel on desktop CPU performance, laptop-integrated
04:58graphics, and battery life as well, while Intel lays off 15,000 workers as it tries
05:03to recover from its major misses.
05:06With Steam Deck gaming handheld, it's showing gamers that Linux could be a real alternative
05:10to Windows, while Windows is pushing away power users by disrespecting their choices
05:15and trying to sell more Microsoft products to what they think is a captive audience.
05:20But the world may not be run by PCs for long.
05:23The phone already became the most important computer in most people's lives, and the AI
05:28server has now become the most important computer for chip makers to feed.
05:32I don't know if I'd enjoy life without dedicated local processing power, but it's not too hard
05:37to imagine less PC.
05:39Before personal computers, you might log into a dumb terminal connected to a vastly powerful
05:44mainframe.
05:45Will AI bring us back to those days?
05:48AI labs are going to continue to try to control your devices, also called agents.
05:54Anthropic recently introduced a feature that lets its AI autonomously control devices,
05:59while Google and OpenAI are reportedly launching agents in the coming months.
06:03Still, key challenges remain, including reliability, accessibility, and security.
06:08For example, in a demo, Anthropic's agent unexpectedly searched for images of Yellowstone
06:12instead of performing its intended task.
06:16These features will also likely be subscription-based due to the high operational costs.
06:21Security and privacy are also significant concerns, as compromised agents, prompt injections,
06:25and data leaks pose substantial risks.
06:28China's victory in the election likely signals the end of generous government incentives
06:33that helped bring the price of EVs down for millions of Americans.
06:36And that means automakers will be faced with a choice.
06:39Scrap their plans to build cheaper EVs, or double down.
06:44Ford's CEO drove Xiaomi's new EV for several months to get a better feel for what makes
06:49it so special.
06:50But he also said he wanted to understand how China had cracked the code on cheap EVs.
06:55American automakers are still struggling to keep up with China's pace, and the elimination
06:59of tax credits will be a watershed moment that could drive them back into the arms of
07:04polluting gas guzzlers, or to truly innovate and introduce affordable models of their own.
07:10I think we'll see more interest in nuclear energy next year because big tech is obsessed
07:15with AI and it's driving up power demand for data centers.
07:19Nuclear reactors can generate electricity around the clock without creating greenhouse
07:24gas emissions.
07:25There are concerns about high costs with nuclear energy, not to mention the environmental impact
07:30of mining uranium and storing radioactive waste.
07:34But we've already seen Microsoft, Amazon, and Google Inc. major deals this year to purchase
07:38nuclear energy for their data centers.
07:41Those energy demands aren't going away, so we might see more of these kinds of deals
07:45next year.
07:46So I think DJI drones are about to become a lot more expensive.
07:50In 2019, DJI made adjustments to pricing on its products following the increased tariffs
07:55on Chinese goods imposed by the Trump administration.
07:59The price increased for its Mavic 2 line by about 13%.
08:04So we're about to enter Trump's second term, and the ongoing trade war could also just
08:09make it harder for consumers to get their hands on said drones.
08:13Pair that with the looming ban on DJI, and it's all sounding a bit uncertain what the
08:18future for the drone industry in the US will look like.
08:22So those are some of the key moments to look out for in 2025, and in case you missed it,
08:25we also made a video about our favorite tech from 2024, so be sure to check that out.
08:30And we'll still have a few more videos before the end of the year, so stay tuned, and in
08:34case I don't see you until next year, I hope 2024 was treating you well, and I hope 2025
08:41treats you even better.
08:42Take care.
08:43I'll see you all soon.