5 Unstoppable Consumer Tech Trends That Will Redefine 2025

Forecasting is a fool’s errand. So this fool has stepped up to compile some 2025 consumer tech and gadget forecasts for Stuff. I’ve strained my mind to predict developments concerning AI, streaming, and foldable phones. And I’m confident you can regard everything stated here as 100% reliable for what will unfold in the next 12 months – plus or minus 100%. After all, this is science*!

* This is not genuinely science – Legal notice.

The AI bubble will dramatically pop

AI is riding a massive wave of excitement but is about to be devoured by the jaws of reality. That doesn’t mean there won’t be remarkable applications – for instance, in the medical field. However, among consumers, the perception will increasingly be that AI is ineffectual. Anticipate chaos. Expenses will soar. And standalone AI gadgets will be obsolete, as phones will perform all those tasks – plus if you employ AI on a phone, you can at least verify in a browser whether the information provided is authentic or merely a hallucination.

Streaming will persist in its fragmentation absurdity

Music illustrated how streaming could function.

Enroll in a service. Enjoy all of the music. (Sort of.) Delightful. Except if you’re the individuals who possess the intellectual property, since that means your earnings may not be as substantial as possible. Plus, producing television content is notoriously pricey. Thus, by 2025, we can expect another season of Streaming Firms Taking Their Toys Away, compelling you to register for even more services to view popular programs. Costs will increase. Advertising tiers will be priced similarly to what non-ad tiers were two years ago. The most unfortunate part: we will all eagerly consume it and continue subscribing.

Headsets won’t become the sole devices

A scenario where we all don spectacles that superimpose a digital realm on the actual one? Exhilaratingly avant-garde or disturbingly dystopic, based on your perspective. Nevertheless, this won’t materialize in 2025, despite experts fervently asserting that the forthcoming headset revolution is just around the corner. The technology will progress, but smart glasses won’t supplant your phone by 2025. Which is fortunate. It’s already disheartening to witness a train crowded with individuals poking at glass displays. But it would be maddening to exist in a carriage filled with commuters fervently gesticulating at invisible objects mid-air.

Apple will persist in being Apple

Individuals place excessive expectations on Apple, as if it’s going to reveal an iPod or iPhone on a regular basis. The truth is that significant revelations from the corporation are rare. Anticipate a year of development with Apple being true to form. New entry-level mobile gadgets will be robust and comparatively inexpensive, although still retaining unsatisfactory key characteristics, like the iPad’s screen functioning as a mirror. Nevertheless, perhaps Apple can utilize that to gaze at itself instead of becoming irritated whenever the EU challenges Apple’s anti-competitive conduct.

Folding devices won’t conquer physics

If you desire a smartphone that folds in half, go ahead. However, don’t anticipate 2025 to bring one with any greater likelihood of lasting than, let’s say, a Ming vase being thrown at a wall. Or an iteration where the crease vanishes instead of leaving an annoying line. It is improbable that we will see a new folding Apple device either (2026, apparently), but there’s a slight chance an Android enthusiast will surpass Huawei’s latest foldable with a quad-folding device. As for me, I’m looking forward to one that can be crumpled into a ball and tossed at someone’s head to grab their attention when they won’t put down their own phone.