The technology that will change our lives in 2022

The technology of the year that has just begun is linked to the evolving digital world, in the post-pandemic era. Last year, no one had the crystal ball to predict that in 2021 Facebook would face a rebranding, changing its name to Metaverse, or to predict a chip crisis of colossal proportions and predict that digital art (NFT) would reach prices from dizziness. Yet all these things happened.

Mixed reality (augmented and virtual reality), household robots, social media and sustainability undoubtedly represent the technological trends of the moment. We will already be able to touch some innovations at the next CES 2022. But to find out which technology, which technological trends, will assert themselves in 2022, we first asked Carolina Milanesi (Creative Strategies), international expert in Consumer Tech strategies, former vice president of Gartner and former head of research at Kantar.

“I expect great attention to the Metaverse, this world that will not be Mark Zuckerberg's final vision for many years to come”, begins Carolina Milanesi, “will be built with the foundations that we will see arrive in 2022, when VR and AR will begin to play a prevalent role both in entertainment and to boost productivity”.

Topical index

Metaverse and ambient computing

But among the new year's trends there are also devices that will help us in our professional career in the time of hybrid work, between smart working and office: "As a trend More than any day, I see the hybrid category on the rise. Devices created for working from home will lead to more screens all around us, but also products that specialize in a single function for video calls or note-taking. We should also see more smartphones and foldable computers."

But the idea of ​​"ambient computing based on mobile phones, wearables and headphones" will also make headway, a concept of computing accessible everywhere, always available, but in which devices disappear into the background and integrate artificial intelligence ( AI) and software to help you throughout the day: “It will expand from Apple to Samsung, up to Made by Google”, predicts Carolina Milanesi.

Ambient computing provides the user with artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms that enhance hardware and software to perform fast daily tasks, ranging from multimedia content to communication, from searching for information on the net to digital entertainment.

Virtual reality (VR), Augmented reality (AR), and Mixed reality experiences are expected to make a breakthrough this year, with Meta launching a less expensive and more advanced headset than the Quest 2. The game changer is obviously the Metaverse of Mark Zuckerberg's company. The Metaverse is the virtual world where we will play games, go shopping, attend events and shows and professional videoconferences.

New sensors and improved optics will make Meta's new device, codenamed Project Cambria, perfect for transporting your avatar into the Metaverse: with Project Cambria, if you smile, your avatar smiles; it also transforms your real space into that of the Metaverse, but enriched with digital features. Even Apple seems to be creating a helmet for VR and AR with its chip that already equips Macbooks.

More comfortable and functional viewers and smart glasses will arrive for accessing the metaverse. Google is also working on it and wants to make up for the flop of the first model of goggles.

It's not clear whether the metaverse will really be – as Meta says – the future of the internet and a way to do new things with the net or just another way to do the same things online. However, we probably won't find out in 2022.

Home robots

“Robotics for the home will bring more devices to the market at least in the experimental phase such as Amazon's Astro“, highlights Carolina Milanesi.

Robots are set to transform the home into an “intelligent environment”. After smart speakers in the kitchen and living room, it's time for robots in the home. Robots are not yet able to babysit their children, wash the dishes and replace the plumber in the bathroom, but Astro, equipped with Amazon Alexa, answers questions, plays music and is equipped with video cameras to monitor the house in absence of the owner. Thanks to Alexa Together, Astro remotely monitors the status of elderly relatives.

David Limp, Amazon's senior vice president of Devices and Services, defined Astro as the robot capable of transforming our home into an "intelligent environment", in which the computer vanishes into the background and we interact with the real world without being engulfed in the smartphone. Amazon Astro costs $1000, but is receiving higher than expected requests. The competitor ElliQ will introduce concierge services to allow Over65s to shop in eCommerce mode by ordering the robot what to buy.

The privacy concerns associated with the spread of these voice assistants equipped with artificial intelligence will remain intact and perhaps multiply.

Electric cars in 2022

Electric vehicles will be the protagonists of the Automotive market, even if the historical limits of electric vehicles still need to be overcome, linked to autonomy, high prices, battery disposal and infrastructure.

According to some experts, the main limit hindering diffusion is now the price. Well, in 2022 a drop in the average price and a greater variety of models are expected.

From the end of 2022, motorists in the USA will be able to choose from one hundred models of electric cars. The price of electric cars recorded a 30% decline in the five-year period 2015-2020. In 2022 the price of electric cars will continue to fall: four models could fall below $40,000: Chevrolet, Hyundai, Kia, Mazda, Mini and Volkswagen.

Ford, which will sell only electric cars in Europe from 2030, has received 200,000 pre-orders of the F-150 Lightning model (prices starting at $39,974). 75% of buyers had never bought a Ford car before. Nissan broke through the $30,000 mark with the Leaf EV model at $28,375, thanks to tax credits.

Password for 2022: sustainability

Microsoft has created a mouse with plastic recovered from the ocean. The new Apple iPhones and iPads contain recycled materials. The latest Amazon Echo not only uses recycled plastic, but also saves energy.

During 2022, the trend in IT to incorporate Green IT and pro-climate components will grow. The technology sector, which today has a higher carbon footprint than aviation, is adopting sustainability as a guide for making smartphones, tablets and computers. The real problem is with the life cycle of the technology: too short, with little possibility of repairs, according to Magali Delmas, a professor of management at the University of California.

Apple is taking action, initially offering a self-service repair program to allow customers and independent technicians to repair devices using genuine Apple parts. Dell showed off the Luna, a concept laptop with fewer screws and easier to repair.

Social media: children more protected in 2022

Last year we became more aware of the need to protect minors on Instagram and TikTok. In 2022, the Authorities are ready to make greater efforts on this front and beyond. In 2022 the trend of the intervention of the Authorities in regulating Big Tech will continue: "The regulation of tech by governments will remain a strong trend not only for social media, with an effect on news and information, but also for technologies such as TO THE. Even the Metaverse will not remain immune from the attempt at regulation, even if I don't expect great understanding from governments that still don't seem to understand how smartphones and social media work”, warns Carolina Milanesi.

Instagram has promised an alternative to the algorithm-powered feed, where users today have little control over what they see. In December, in a hearing to the US Senate committee, Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, assured that the social media will release parental controls for teenagers this year: from March it will be possible to configure a duration of use.

TikTok has already made changes to its algorithm, for example to prevent users from finding feeds overrun with videos on eating disorders, depression and other risky topics. In the USA, bipartisan proposals are pouring in, ranging from the reintroduction of the Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act (Cup 2.0), to offer more privacy to teenagers between 13 and 15 years, to legislative proposals to make social-media algorithms more transparent .

In Italy, the Authority for Children and Adolescents and Agcom are working on guidelines to regulate the codes of conduct of suppliers, with measures to reduce the exposure of children under 12 to video advertising relating to products food.

Demand for chips cools: but the shortage will last until 2023

Demand for chips in 2020 and in the first half of 2021 was record-breaking: lockdown and pandemic have increased the demand for contactless credit cards (so as not to touch paper money and limit the spread of the infection), smartphones and PCs (to hold video conferences and stay in touch with families). But since the third quarter, the chip market has seen signs of cooling demand: China's smartphone market has posted a 9% decline (although iPhone demand remains strong and Apple expects record profits in 2021).

However, the chip supply chain won't be able to meet demand until 2023, when factories from Arizona to Beijing ramp up their capacity.

Digital health sensors are multiplying

After smartwatches and smartbands, the fashion for jewelery and smart clothes equipped with digital health sensors (eHealth) could begin. Very popular is the Oura ring with sensors to monitor heart rate, blood oxygen rate and body temperature. Sensors also land on Whoop's leggings and bras, while the Google Nest Hub, without a camera, monitors sleep.

Chris Becherer, chief product officer of Oura, explains that these are not new technologies or sensors, but hardware manufacturers are looking for new ways to simplify health tracking.

Earphones could also expand their capabilities. Apple is considering allowing its AirPods to check temperature and monitor posture, while with iPhone it will perhaps be possible to measure blood pressure.

The invasion of OLED screens and the dawn of MicroLED

Samsung pioneered OLED (organic light-emitting diode) screens on smartphones, which are brighter and have sharper contrasts. Now the technology is dropping in price and numerous TV models with OLED displays will arrive in 2022, followed by tablets and PCs.

The heir is MicroLED technology, thin micro illuminating pixels, which Samsung is adopting on video walls, but still at astronomical costs.

At CES 2022, Vuzix will unveil smart glasses for augmented reality at work, equipped with MicroLED.

Cybersecurity, fewer passwords 2022

Passwords can be guessed or stolen with phishing. To avoid criminal hacking attacks, we use password managers that generate unique passwords that are so complicated that we would never be able to remember.

So new services come to our aid: from links sent via email to codes sent via smartphone, up to the Microsoft Authenticator app that sends a security key or verification code via email or smartphone.

According to Transmit Security, 44% of users would be ready to adopt services that adopt biometrics and 35% a passwordless option.

Andrew Shikiar, executive director of the Fido Alliance, an organization that promotes security keys, facial recognition, fingerprints and voice-based passwords, estimates that 2022 will be the breakthrough year for abandoning passwords.

More 5G and fibre

“5G becomes a reality accessible to a growing percentage of users”, comments Carolina Milanesi.

In the US, mobile phone operators are discontinuing outdated 3G networks to make way for the fifth generation standard. The farewell date to 3G is marked: in February for AT&T, in July for T-Mobile and in December for Verizon. Also thanks to President Biden's Infrastructure Bill which provides 65 billion dollars to bring broadband to rural areas.

In Italy, according to an EY research, 5G now covers over 95% of the Italian population and 7,500 municipalities. However, a sort of 5G light is accessible in Italy: a non-standalone network infrastructure, the result of the enhancement of the current 4G networks (Dynamic spectrum sharing, DSS) and the use of the midband frequencies of the 3.6 GHz band (TDD), in capable of increasing performance, without yet supporting the most innovative applications. For these we will have to make full use of the frequencies assigned in the auction and the assignment of new ones: but this will be discussed in 2023.

Even for fiber optic and 5G coverage with public funds, the turning point will probably only be from 2023, with new tenders due in 2022.

Crypto mania: 2022 is the year of cryptocurrencies and NFTs

The international expert on Consumer Tech strategies also sees a common thread between Zuckerberg's creature and cryptocurrencies: "Even if I hear many people talking about NFT and Crypto as a phenomenon that is linked to the Metaverse, for me they are, in the sense that they are part of a digital reality that is linked to our real life, but which is independent a bit like the idea of Metaverse”, continues Carolina Milanesi.

Cryptocurrencies and NFTs are all the rage, decentralized Web3 and blockchain are trendy technologies. In 2022, Block (formerly Square)'s Venmo PayPal and Cash App apps make it easier to buy and send cryptocurrencies. The Cash App recently added a way to give bitcoin to any US user via a debit card.

More and more stores will start accepting your favorite cryptocurrencies. Tesla will also accept dogecoin for specific merchandise.

While it is unlikely that any users will prefer the blockchain-based social media DeSo to TikTok, it is more likely that the Instagram platform is starting to explore how to make NFTs more accessible to a large audience.

eCommerce will usher in drone delivery

It's not a service for everyone as it depends on where you live, but eCommerce with drone delivery is about to become a reality. Flytrex, the Israeli startup with three distribution stations in North Carolina, just received FAA approval to make drone deliveries within a mile radius. It will carry goods from a range of stores like Walmart to 10,000 homes.

Alphabet's Wing Aviation, the parent company of Google, is also testing the drone delivery service and plans to launch it in the densely urban Dallas-Ft area. Worth in 2022.

Cardinal Health will use drones and Zipline electric fixed-wing aircraft to restock pharmacies in Kannapolis, within a 10-mile radius. FAA regulations require human operators to fly drones.

Probably not all of this yet in Italy, where regulations tend to be stricter and couriers more conservative.

Space travel

“Space travel will increase, but it will remain a niche for the super rich,” says Milanesi.

2021 saw the birth of space tourism, but only for billionaires. Lue Origin, SpaceX and Virgin Galactic all sent paying customers into space last year and aim to grow this side of their businesses in the coming months. Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are performing suborbital tours to the edge of space that offer a few minutes of weightlessness and an epic view of Earth, but Blue Origin is working on a bigger rocket capable of carrying people and cargo to orbit and beyond.

Expect more space travelers than ever in 2022, but perhaps nothing more.