What will 2025 be like? How will artificial intelligence develop, and how will the Trump administration shape the USA and therefore the whole world? What are the trends in smartphones and wearables, in the gaming and entertainment industry? And how is the way we live and use energy changing We are thrilled to present our predictions, emerging trends, and bold speculations for 2025—distilled into seven key categories. Here’s what the future holds!
1. Artificial Intelligence: Striking a Balance Between Hype and Overload
Developments in the field of artificial intelligence polarize not only our editors. As a firm expectation for 2025, Antoine Engels hopes for an end to the exaggerated AI euphoria: he hopes “that we will become a little calmer on the subject of AI, both among manufacturers and in the media” and “that we will enter the ‘productivity plateau’ phase of Gartner’s hype cycle.” The idea here is that exaggerated promises and short-lived hype are paving the way for more meaningful, long-term applications.
On the other hand, Carsten Drees has a sneaking suspicion that we could be drowning in AI content by 2025. He believes we will be “literally drowning in AI songs, images, videos, and texts”. This gloomy perspective reflects the fear that the sheer volume of automatically generated content could overshadow the value of human creativity. I, on the other hand, believe that AI will make interfaces increasingly “human” and emotionally charge the products behind them, creating an “addictive factor”. AI is therefore perceived as normalization, excessive demands and seduction at the same time—an explosive mixture for 2025.
2. Wearables and Health: From Data Collectors to Personal Assistants
The expectations surrounding wearables are much clearer and predominantly positive. Camila Rinaldi believes that by 2025, wearables will “achieve medical accuracy and be approved by the FDA for chronic disease management and early diagnosis.” It would finally be the turnaround that wearables need to become more than just data collectors: in the future, AI-powered health apps will offer personalized coaching programs for fitness, mental health and lifestyle that identify risks early and recommend preventive measures.
According to her, “wearables will become an active intervention with breathing exercises, warnings about poor posture or excessive UV exposure”. This signals a fusion of health, technology, and prevention. Furthermore, I believe that non-invasive blood glucose monitoring could be ready for the market by 2025 in mainstream wearables such as an Apple Watch Ultra 3. Jade dreams of an Apple Watch with blood pressure measurement. So will wearables finally no longer just be better extensions of our smartphones with a few fitness add-ons, but real health assistants by 2025?
3. Smartphones and Hardware Innovations: Moving Beyond Stagnation
The smartphone market has been stagnating for some time. Dustin Porth hopes that “something will finally happen on the smartphone market and a real novelty will appear” to escape the interchangeability of current flagships. Carsten expects manufacturers to realize that superfluous functions such as 2 MP macro cameras, which only enhance the data sheet, will be removed. Do we really have to pimp our data sheets in 2025 to be able to show off three cameras in the school playground?
Rubens Eishima sees a trend towards longer software support periods and better repairability. He reminds us that Google promises an impressive seven years of OS updates for its smartphones and Qualcomm eight years of software updates for its top CPUs. This development could indicate a more sustainable approach to smartphones if other manufacturers follow suit. In addition, the hope for real innovation remains: Rubens is quietly hoping for roll-up screens—a possible sign that new shapes, rather than just new colors, will actually hit the market in 2025.
4. Console and Gaming Trends: Navigating Saturated Markets and Fresh Announcements
There are signs of consolidation in the gaming sector. Antoine notes that the market for portable console PCs is already “saturated”, as manufacturers such as Asus, Lenovo and MSI have released numerous, very similar models in recent years. However, this glut could also have positive effects, such as falling prices.
At the same time, 2025 is a year full of hope: Antoine suspects that an officially announced Nintendo Switch 2 with an OLED screen will be coming. Dustin also finds it “quite conceivable and more than desirable” that the Switch will finally get a successor – and possibly even Grand Theft Auto with GTA VI. What do you think?
5. The Political Influence of Tech Billionaires: A Concerning Trend
Not only the technologies themselves, but also their creators and financiers are shaping the year 2025, with Carsten citing the negative trend of “tech billionaires gaining more and more political influence”. Power structures are shifting here as the architects of the digital future increasingly influence the political agenda. Elon Musk in particular is involved in so many different industries—from AI to space travel to automobiles—and is now becoming part of the Trump cabinet. This development could have a significant impact on market development and thus change society in the long term.
6. Economic Challenges: Navigating Inflation and Shrinking Purchasing Power
On the economic side, our editors paint a rather gloomy picture. Dustin expects that “the decline in purchasing power is likely to continue in 2025” due to inflation and an uncertain global political situation. Rubens summarizes his trend expectation for 2025 briefly and clearly: “Inflation, unfortunately.” Such developments indicate that access to new technologies and trends will also be perceived as a costly challenge by many people. In 2025, the financial situation could determine more than ever who can afford which technical innovations. Will this make technology less democratic than before?
7. Sustainability and Renewable Energy: A Global Learning Curve
Despite all the difficulties, there are also hopeful visions. I expect that we will learn to rethink our energy supply worldwide. “We are producing more and more of our own electricity with small or large solar systems and adjusting our consumption to actual energy production thanks to dynamic electricity tariffs.” This is an emerging trend in which technology not only enables more convenient appliances, but also a more conscious and sustainable lifestyle.
But here, too, things are not moving at the same pace everywhere. In Europe, for example, there is an EU directive that forces large grid operators to offer a dynamic electricity tariff. However, as of 2024, no provider in France has yet implemented this, and dynamic tariffs are at best a side note for many electricity providers in Germany. In the USA, too, the idea has so far only been discussed.
What to Expect in 2025?
All in all, these forecasts paint a multifaceted picture of 2025: between wishful thinking, expectation and faint foreboding, there is technological reassurance and advances in medical technology, genuine innovations alongside familiar problems, political power shifts, economic concerns and new paths towards sustainability. This mixture makes it clear that 2025 could be a year full of challenges, opportunities, and changes.
