We had plenty to get excited about in 2015 with the introduction of nifty new tech toys such as the Apple Watch and the Amazon Echo.
But 2016 is shaping up to be a big year for tech launches too. Virtual reality, drone and robotic technology, and new smartphone innovations are all under development at big players like Apple and Google, as well as at smaller startup companies.
Here are some of the top products on our radar for next year:
Facebook's Oculus Rift will kick off the virtual reality revolution.
For gamers and sci-fi lovers, the long awaited moment will arrive in Q1 of 2016 when Facebook-owned Oculus finally ships the Rift virtual reality headset. The Rift is the product with the best chance of bringing virtual reality to the masses, which explains why Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was willing to pay $2 billion to buy the company in 2014. The headset must be paired with a heavy-duty PC to work its magic, and the final price of the Rift is still unknown, but people who have tried prototypes have been blown away by the experience.
Apple could release a small iPhone for people who liked the old iPhone's size better.
Not everyone wants a giant screen. The rumored Apple iPhone 6c could offer something smaller, and cheaper. According to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the mini iPhone would feature a 4-inch screen and the same A9 processor that’s currently in the iPhone 6s, though it might not include support for 3D Touch. The iPhone Mini could be unveiled in March, according to many reports.
Google Project Ara would let you snap components onto your phone like Legos.
Imagine being able to snap on components to your phone as easily as playing with Lego toys. That's the promise of Google's Project Ara, which aims to let you customize your device by adding pieces like a better camera, extra memory, and even special sensors to do things like test if drinking water is clean. Making this a reality is not so simple. Google had initially promised a limited "market pilot" of the technology in 2015, but has since pushed the date back to sometime in 2016.
The Starship Technologies robot will deliver stuff to your doorstep.
It may be some time before Amazon's delivery drones are ready to air-drop packages on your doorstep, but two of the cofounders of Skype have created ground-based robo-vehicles to deliver packages. The six-wheeled electric vehicles can carry the equivalent of two grocery bags (in a locked compartment), traveling on sidewalks to deliver cargo within a 3 mile radius. The droid uses cameras, sensors and maps to navigate autonomously 99% of the time and will launch the first "pilot" services with partners in the U.S. and U.K. in 2016.
Microsoft HoloLens will turn the world into a hallucinatory vision.
Ever since Microsoft showed off a prototype of its augmented reality HoloLens glasses earlier this year, the tech world has been abuzz. The glasses use holographic technology and Microsoft's Windows 10 software to overlay digital images onto the wearer's view of the real world. A user can stare at their living room wall and see digital objects, from video games to video conferencing. More importantly, the user can interact with the digital objects. An early version of HoloLens will be available to developers in 2016 for $3,000. Consumers may have to wait until 2017.
