Upcoming 5 mobile app development trends in 2021

We’re facing many unforeseen changes in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we live. Many businesses now have to struggle to adapt to these new customer behaviors. To stay competitive, industries must move fast, explore new opportunities, and leverage the newest trends in technology. And this applies to the relatively young and adaptable mobile apps market as well.

Smartphones and tablets are undoubtedly our to-go devices, capturing 3 hrs 50 minutes of our attention per day in 2020. The average time spent daily on a mobile device has been growing steadily for years and this trend is expected to continue in the future. Obviously, most of this time is spent using mobile apps. No wonder mobile apps were considered essential to succeed with customers far before 2020 ever began.

At the same time, innovations and new mobile app trends are emerging, allowing the latter to push the envelope while the former try to beat the odds in the annual fight for a place among the top mobile app trends.

5G

The introduction of 5G technology will certainly have a great impact on the trends in mobile app development in general. The number of 5G connections worldwide is projected to grow to 1.1 billion by 2025. It is said that 5G is going to change the way apps are used and created.

The speed of the new networking standard is a giant leap forward. According to an analysis conducted by Open Signal between July 1 and September 28 of this year, 5G users often experience download speeds that are several times faster than 4G.

5G is the natural evolution of previous generations — 3G and 4G. It will not only improve internet connection speed on mobile phones but will also increase the functionality of mobile apps.

IoT (Internet of things)

In 2022 the IoT market in the US is predicted to exceed 500 billion dollars in value and the lion’s share of this will be the consumer electronics segment, with a size of 180 billion dollars. The Internet of things is taking the world by storm. This very advanced technology is at the same time one of the closest to the people, impacting how they interact or even how they live in their homes.

In addition, IoT also has the potential of data sharing within the network. All this will (and definitely should) draw the attention of the app industry and make IoT one of the most preferred developers’ choice of mobile apps trends.

Instant Apps

Android Instant apps were introduced in 2016 by Google as a new configuration of software that is outright convenient from the perspective of the user and the most demanding from the developer’s perspective. So they are not new or uncommon in Android app development but are still becoming popular.

Those advantages combined with the fact that instant apps are particularly useful for the mobile gaming and e-commerce industry will for sure secure this technology a safe place among mobile app trends of 2021.

Apps For Foldable Devices

2019 saw the release of foldable devices like the Samsung Galaxy Fold, the Huawei Mate X, and the new Motorola Razr.

These smartphones fold to compress or expand the screen size based on user preferences. For example, a user might make a call with the device closed, but watch a video on a larger screen by unfolding the device.

From an app development perspective, resellers and content creators need to account for these devices when building or updating an app.

According to Statista, roughly 3.2 million foldable phones were shipped in 2019. This forecast is expected to reach 50 million units by 2022. For that growth to happen, 2021 will be a big year for foldables, which means app developers must plan accordingly.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial intelligence and machine learning both penetrated mobile app development years ago. But we’ve only just begun to scratch the surface with how these advanced technologies can be used.

When we first think about AI, virtual assistants like Siri or Alexa come to mind. However, the use cases go far and beyond this for app development.

Examples of AI features that can be implemented into a mobile app include:

• Image recognition
• Face detection
• Text and image classification
• Sentiment recognition and classification
• Speech recognition
• Predictive maintenance

Artificial intelligence can make apps smarter, and ultimately improve the performance at every level. From the backend development process to the frontend user experience, AI will change the way apps are built-in 2021.

Conclusion

Mobile app development is constantly changing. If you’re building apps today using information from two or three years ago, you won’t be able to stay competitive.

As a reseller, you can treat the 2021 mobile app trends like your bible. This is how you can gain an edge in your space.

You don’t necessarily need to implement every single trend into every app you build. But you need to have a general understanding of how the market is shifting so you can adapt accordingly.

Based on my extensive research, the 5 app development trends that I outlined above will dominate 2021.