What will the Internet look like in 2021? (Question from 2011)

Technologies 2021: satellite Internet and returnoing of clamshell phones

Hello from 2021! No, we do not have flying cars here, and robots did not rebel against the world's population. At least for now. But Robo-taxi is one step away from the introduction, and we also haveobotic vacuums.

Let's not languish and see what the Internet looks like in 2021.

Last 2019 brought a lot of hope to the world of high technology. It's time to find out which ones will turn into full-fledged products this year.

1. 5G (and the active development of the "Internet of things")

Technology does not stand still, and we did not have time to get used to 4G communications, as, in some countries, 5G has already begun to be introduced.

5G stands for "fifth generation" - the fifth generation of mobile communications with higher speed, stability, and, therefore, capabilities.

The introduction of 3G technology was a real breakthrough - the speed of the mobile Internet is very close to the performance of "home". The transition to 4G technology was already less noticeable - the Internet began to work better, more stable, but not revolutionary faster. 5G promises a significant technological leap: Internet speed can reach 1-2 Gb/s.

During 2019, 5G technology was introduced in test mode in the Asian market - in South Korea and China. As expected, in 2020, it will reach the European part of the continent.

5G can dramatically change the approach to the Internet. High-speed mobile Internet can "kill" Wi-Fi points (can simply disappear as unnecessary).

In fact, wired Internet and Wi-Fi points with the introduction of 5G can suffer the same fate as wired radio and radio points suffered in their time. But besides this, 5G expects a breakthrough in the Internet of Things market. Thanks to technology, devices will be able to exchange data between themselves and servers actively. The Internet of things is when a "smart" alarm clock can synchronize with a "smart" kettle so that it boils water for tea just for your awakening. Of course, such solutions have existed for several years, but this year they can become widespread.

1. The computer revolution (mass migration to Windows 10, cheap hardware and supercomputers)

Computer performance is increasing from year to year, and already in 2020, we are waiting for the next record.

It is expected that 2021 will bring records in the production of multi-threaded production processors. Last November, AMD presented its 32-core Ryzen Threadripper 3970X processor. It received 32 cores and became the most productive mass chip, challenging its main competitor - the 28-core Intel Xeon W-3175X. It expected that the price at the entry to the retail sale of these crystals to be about $3,000.

Also it has already been confirmed that in 2020 AMD will introduce the Ryzen Threadripper 3990X with 64 cores and 128 threads. As the American technical resource The Verge reported, the cost of processors in the new line will start from $1999.

2020 will also be a year when millions of users around the world will have to say goodbye to the most popular operating system, Windows-7. The positions of the "7" began to sag with the release of Windows 10. In the same way, slowly, but surely, as the popularity of the now-aging Windows 7 grew, the "popular" Windows XP lost its fans.

As once in 2014, Microsoft stopped supporting Windows XP, and January 14, 2020, will stop supporting the "7".

But, the discontinuation of support for Windows 7 does not mean that the operating system will stop working. It’s just that it will stop receiving security updates, which means that the risk of being hacked or catching a virus will increase.

1. Internet even on uninhabited islands (thanks to satellites)

Smartphones came into our lives at the beginning of the decade, and by the end, they became a must-have accessory. Along with the development of mobile devices, mobile Internet has also developed. It became faster and more accessible, almost equal to home. In fact, mobility is conditional.

In the 21st century, there are many places in the world where even mobile communications do not catch on, not like the Internet. But in 2021, the problem of access to the Internet outside cable networks and mobile phone coverage may be in the past due to satellite Internet.

Satellite Internet is an idea that is many years old. Its main disadvantages are the high price of signal reception/transmission devices and the relatively high response time. After all, first, the user’s request must overcome the distance to the satellite, and then wait for the data packet.

During 2019, SpaceX actively tested the technology in which, in the future, the planet will be surrounded by 12 thousand satellites, providing a stable and affordable Internet anywhere in the world. The data transfer speed of such an Internet should become much faster because the satellites will be in low Earth orbit.

On May 24 and November 11, 2019, SpaceX successfully launched the Falcon 9 rocket with 60 Starlink satellites on board. For the third time, 60 satellites went into orbit on January 7, 2020. According to the company’s management, when there are 360 ​​of them, a stable Internet will already be available, and this can happen very soon. After all, in 2019, an unspoken “space race” in this area actually started: other companies - OneWeb and Amazon also announced the development of similar systems.

1. The return of clamshell smartphones

Every year, the diagonal of displays on smartphones is growing. The first Samsung Galaxy Note, which saw the light in 2011, was distinguished by a giant screen at that time - 5.3 inches. Since then, slowly, year after year, the phones have "grown", and by 2018 the diagonal of the 6-inch display has become the conditional "standard". The development of frameless devices, the appearance of "eyebrows" - display islands for sensors and a front camera - make it clear: the industry has stood still before a bright decision.

FlexPai - little known, but the first

One of the solutions to the issue of compactness can be folding the device, which with the development of displays, has not seemed fantastic for a long time. At the very end of 2018, the concept of a folding smartphone appeared. The "race," which was supposed to take place, first of all, between the giants Samsung, Huawei, and LG, was suddenly launched by Royole, which released the world's first folding smartphone with a flexible display - FlexPai. It immediately became clear that it was too early to talk about a breakthrough: many test samples found problems with peeling off the plastic display in the loop area, and after 20 folding operations, most samples began to crackle.

Samsung introduced the Galaxy Fold foldable device in San Francisco on February 21. Soon, the public showed the folding smartphone Huawei P10.

Throughout 2019, the serial production of smartphones will be delayed for technical reasons. The declared price of the devices could not talk about their mass character in any way - both models are predicted to sell in the range of $2000-$3000.

And by the end of the year, the Motorola RAZR 2019 was presented, the reincarnation of the Razr V3 from 2004. Remember this one?

The pre-order price in the USA is about $1,500, which makes the Motorola RAZR 2019 the cheapest of the phones with a folding screen. But at the same time very expensive, considering not the best quality indicators for the camera and hardware for its price.

Now I wonder if 2021 met your expectations back in 2011?

Thanks for reading!