2025+ and beyond
The past 25 years have been a remarkable journey for the mobile industry, with GCF playing an active role throughout. Looking ahead, what will the next 25 years bring? While we can’t predict the distant future, some near-term trends are discernible.
Mobile technology trends and innovations
AI is likely to continue its rapid ascent, driven by increasingly swift processors and the management of vast data volumes. Mobile communications will be crucial in this landscape, facilitating the transfer of information from sensors and IoT devices, and connecting smartphones and wearables to the cloud with advanced radio access technologies. We can expect AI capabilities at both the device and access network levels to undergo significant evolution in the coming years, revolutionising user experiences and network operations.
Smartphones, smartwatches, and smart glasses will become faster, lighter, and more sophisticated, offering new AI-driven features to users, often with cloud support. At the market’s opposite end, ultra-affordable smartphones will further democratise global communication. As society becomes increasingly reliant on connected services and devices, cybersecurity for consumer and IoT devices will grow in importance.
Evolving mobile networks
Our mobile handsets will increasingly offer direct satellite connections, with non-terrestrial standards-based wireless communication such as NTN 5G NR. Initially, smartphones are expected to be certified with this technology for basic messaging and emergency services in areas beyond terrestrial network coverage. As the number of satellites grows and costs decrease, we anticipate broader applications for this technology.
Innovations like folding and rollable form factors will continue to fuel the demand for new smartphones. This will coincide with 5G solidifying its status as the leading wireless technology, complemented by the expansion of 5G RedCap into cost-effective modules and IoT applications.
Beyond smartphones, there is an anticipated increase in the use of standards-based mobile communications in mission-critical services — from two-way radios to body-worn cameras and vehicle-mounted devices. The continued deployment of automotive connectivity is expected, although the timeline for widespread adoption of C-V2X technologies in vehicles and the advent of fully autonomous cars remains uncertain.
Our connected future
As technology evolves, GCF remains sharply focused on introducing new innovations, such as self-powered Ambient IoT, advanced 5G features, and additional frequency bands and combinations. Concurrently, GCF will continue to manage the phasing out of older Radio Access Technologies, such as 3G/WCDMA and 2G/GSM, as operators decommission these services and repurpose the frequencies.
GCF has consistently adapted over time and will persist in doing so. We keep pace with ever-changing markets, thanks to the contributions of our members and partners, and the availability of standards and test specifications developed by standards developing organisations (SDOs), with 3GPP (for which GCF is a market representation partner) and GSMA being the most significant.
As the sixth generation of mobile communications (6G) is being defined, with an expected launch in the early 2030s, GCF is ready to deliver certification programmes for the forthcoming generations of mobile technology, just as it has since the era of 2G.
This text is part of the booklet "A Foundation for the Future: 25 years of GCF", available for download here.