Karl Pay predicts a return to the roots: the future of smartphones - without apps

OnePlus founder and CEO of Nothing, Karl Pay, announced the upcoming transformation of smartphones, which will radically change the idea of mobile devices. According to him, in a few years, the usual apps will disappear from phone screens. They will be replaced by a universal operating system, enhanced by artificial intelligence, capable of performing all functions without the need to install third-party software. The entrepreneur told about this in an interview with the publication Wiredwhere he shared his vision for the future of the industry.

Keep it simple

Karl Pay is confident that smartphones will once again return to the concept of the early 2000s, when devices worked exclusively on the built-in firmware. However, now the role of basic functions will be taken over by the operating system, supplemented with neural networks that can understand user requests and perform tasks proactively-without manually selecting the desired application. This approach, according to Pei, will save a person from routine operations and allow them to focus on the really important things.

Who, if not us

He noted that AI products — such as smart glasses-do not reflect the true potential of neural network technologies. For the foreseeable future, smartphones will remain the main platform for artificial intelligence. However, as Pay emphasizes, the device itself and interaction with it will change beyond recognition: instead of icons and interfaces, the user will communicate directly with the system, and the system in turn will adapt to its behavior and requests.

First steps

Nothing has already started moving in this direction. The brand's new smartphone, the Nothing Phone (3a), is seen as the "first step" towards creating an AI platform. One of the elements of this transformation is the built-in Essential Space application, a utility that combines notes, tasks, gallery and other functions in one intelligent space. The program adapts to the user's habits and eliminates the need to install individual applications.

However, Pay believes that the mass abandonment of the usual user experience will occur no earlier than in 7-10 years. The main reason is a psychological attachment to apps. People are used to specific interfaces, services, and brands, and they won't immediately be ready to abandon them in favor of a fully automated system.

Interestingly, this future is much like the past. Before the advent of full-fledged smartphones with Symbian, iOS or Android, mobile phones were devices with closed ecosystems, in which all functions were built into the firmware. Users were content with a basic set-from a calculator to a calendar-and even entertained with built-in games like the famous "Snake" on the Nokia 3310.

Thus, the idea of Karl Pei is not just innovative, but also a reinterpretation of the early stages of mobile technology development. Only now an intelligent agent is replacing simple software, and interfaces are being replaced by algorithms that can predict the user's wishes.