End of an Era? Musk, Gates, Zuckerberg, Altman Predict Smartphone Demise—Tim Cook Pushes Back

By iNewsAfrica Tech Desk

The smartphone — once the symbol of digital revolution and personal empowerment — may be heading toward obsolescence, if some of the world’s most powerful tech visionaries are to be believed.

Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Sam Altman are sounding the alarm on the smartphone’s future, each championing new frontiers of human-computer interaction that could eclipse the touchscreen devices that have defined the past two decades.

Speaking at separate events and interviews over the past year, these tech leaders have hinted — and in some cases outright declared — that the smartphone’s days are numbered.

Elon Musk envisions a direct link between the human brain and digital systems through Neuralink, which recently conducted early trials of its brain-computer interface. “Why fumble with a device when you can think a command?” Musk posed at a recent AI summit.

Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and a longstanding voice in digital transformation, sees ambient computing and AI-driven wearables as the future. “In ten years, people will think it’s strange they had to carry around a slab of glass to connect to the internet,” Gates told The Verge in a recent interview.

Mark Zuckerberg, betting heavily on the metaverse and augmented reality through Meta, has invested billions into AR glasses and immersive digital environments. “Smartphones are transitional,” he said. “Eventually, you’ll have the world in front of you — not in your hand.”

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI and a central figure in the generative AI boom, foresees a future where intelligent agents embedded in everyday environments anticipate needs before users even ask. “The goal is to make computing disappear into the background,” he said during a TED Talk.

However, Apple CEO Tim Cook remains a firm defender of the smartphone’s central role. While Apple has taken bold steps into wearable and spatial computing with products like the Apple Watch and Vision Pro headset, Cook insists these are extensions—not replacements—of the iPhone.

“We don’t believe the smartphone is going away anytime soon,” Cook said during a recent shareholder call. “What we do see is the iPhone becoming even more integrated into people’s lives—with AI, health tech, and spatial awareness enhancing the experience, not eliminating it.”

Analysts say this rare public divergence among tech elites reveals a deeper tension about the direction of innovation: Will the future of computing remain handheld, or move toward seamless, even invisible, human-tech integration?

Industry Impact Looms

The implications for Africa and other emerging markets are significant. With smartphone penetration still rising across the continent, the notion of bypassing this phase and leaping directly into wearable or neural tech could either be a leap forward—or a missed opportunity.

African tech ecosystems, particularly in Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa, continue to see growth in mobile-first innovations. For millions, the smartphone remains the primary gateway to financial services, education, and healthcare. A premature pivot away from the smartphone era may leave critical gaps if not strategically managed.

A Shifting Horizon

Whether the smartphone evolves or gets replaced may ultimately depend on technological breakthroughs, affordability, and global access. As AI, AR, and neural technologies mature, the world may not say goodbye to smartphones overnight—but their reign as the king of consumer tech may be nearing its final chapters.

Until then, consumers—and innovators—stand at a crossroads: between familiarity and the uncharted frontier.