by A new year is only a few days away, and it can’t come early enough for the tech industry. If you haven’t been hibernating and don’t know, 2022 has been a bit of a rough one. Problems? Falling stock prices, falling sales, supply chain bottlenecks and much more.
However, 2023 is approaching and a new year brings new opportunities for the technology sector. To that end, we look at some of the biggest trends we expect to keep. These include everything from new hardware like Apple (AAPL) to artificial intelligence and technology-driven healthcare for the average consumer. And the gaming industry will be on its way back too.
Without further ado, these are the next big trends to watch in technology in 2023.
An Apple headset and much more Metaverse
Next year, Apple is expected to launch its most important product since launching the Apple Watch in 2014: its first mixed reality headset. According to Bloomberg, The headset will be called Reality One or Reality Pro and will feature a camera pack and a high-resolution display. Inside, there will be a high-powered Apple M2 chip, which means the headset should outperform competitors like Meta’s (META) Quest 2.
Speaking of which, the social media giant is expected to continue to devote billions of dollars to AR and VR efforts. In 2021 alone, Meta spent $10 billion on new hardware and software as part of its effort to dominate the meta universe, a series of interconnected online worlds. And that spending isn’t going to get any easier anytime soon. Meta is well on its way to investing more money in CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s quest to create his go-to metaverse company in 2022, and will further increase that in 2023.
Sony (SONY) will also play an important role in the VR world in 2023 with the launch of the PlayStation VR 2 headset in February. Available to pre-order for $529, hardware includes: an improved display and custom controllers.
More EVs on driveways
Electric vehicles or EVs have been a growing sector in recent years and we expect this to increase further in 2023. EV sales hit a record high in mid-2022, according to Cox Automotive. becomes more and more common. Tesla (TSLA) has played a big role in the growing popularity of EVs, but so has the expanding offering from more traditional automakers like Chevrolet, Kia and Ford.
“EVs will be an interesting ongoing trend because it has such a passionate retail following,” said Rishi Khanna, CEO of investor-focused social network Stocktwits. “I think this is partly a function of Tesla having a cult-like retail following and many EV companies that go public through SPACs. [which are usually of interest to retail investors]. People are very passionate about Mullen, Lucid and many more of these EVs coming to market. It will be interesting to see this trend continue to mature.”
AI goes mainstream
When ChatGPT crashed earlier this month, it made waves on social media. Built by Open AI, the chatbot is the most advanced chat-based AI ever available to the general public, and when it launched, people were equally excited and scared. Soon after, a series of ideas emerged detailing the possibilities, dangers, and limitations of ChatGPT. Regardless, folks came. Over 1 million people signed up to use ChatGPT when it hit the web.
This wasn’t the first time OpenAI was able to capture the public’s imagination. In April, the organization released the latest version of its AI image generator DALL-E for broad interest and encouragement by Wall Street investors. AI has become broad and exciting enough for the general public, and as a result, we are likely to see increased investment from Big Technologies, start-ups, and perhaps even companies that are not traditionally involved in AI.
Apple continues to focus on health and safety
Is Apple next? Watches and iPhones that can improve your health and even save your life. The tech giant clarified these expectations at its “Far Out” event this fall. CEO Tim Cook started the event with a montage of stories about how the Apple Watch saved users’ lives. There are also new iPhone features like emergency SOS that allow the consumer to send emergency messages via satellite if stranded in remote areas.
Apple is also increasing its focus on health-related features. The company’s new high-end Apple Watch Ultra has advanced women’s health features, including family planning data generation. and a temperature sensor based on Apple Watch’s already solid health offerings. As for user privacy, Apple says users’ health data is encrypted end-to-end and users have “granular control” over how their data is shared.
Big name games will bring the gaming industry back
The video game industry took a step back in 2022 as companies from Microsoft (MSFT) and Sony (SONY) to Nintendo (NTDOY), EA (EA) and Take Two (TTWO) struggled to keep up with the explosive epidemic. period sales. The slowdown in digital ad sales for mobile games didn’t help either.
On top of that, more than 100 games were postponed to at least 2023, while foreign currency problems were reflected in the profits of game companies. After all, Q3 global consumer spending for in-app purchases, premium apps and subscriptions fell 4.8% to $31.6 billion, according to SensorTower.
But things will pick up in 2023. According to Morgan Stanley Research analyst Seyon Park, the industry should start to see a return to growth as new games launch in the new year and consoles like Sony’s PlayStation 5 and Microsoft’s Xbox Series X become. more readily available after years of hardware shortages.
The year will also bring a host of highly anticipated titles such as Nintendo’s sequels “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild”, “Star Wars Jedi: Survivor” and “Starfield”.
As IDC analyst Lewis Ward previously told Yahoo Finance: “Assuming that recession concerns are gone and inflation is back to a reasonable level of control… the gaming industry’s pre-COVID baseline will likely reassert itself.”
Got a tip? Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DanielHowley.
Allie Garfinkle is Senior Technology Correspondent at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter: @agarfinks.
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