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.
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