In the new era of algorithms and chatbots who know nothing, but answer everything, technology continues to advance at breakneck speed. In the last 12 months alone, we’ve seen how Google has started to transform internet searches by filling all the … its generative artificial intelligence tools, while ChatGPT begins to falter in the face of growing competition. Meta launched its first lightweight augmented reality glasses of its career for remove the smartphone in the medium term. Samsung has released a mobile phone with three screens. Nintendo handed over its Switch, and Australia decided that minors living in the country could no longer use social networks. Almost nothing.
By 2026Analysts expect even more profound changes across all areas of technology that could significantly affect users’ habits and how they use technology in their daily lives. These are some of the most important ones.
More expensive and lower quality cell phones
The rise in the price of RAM will put technology manufacturers in difficulty
Generative AI companies need to have large amounts of RAM. In recent months, factories have prioritized supplying data centers, thereby reducing supply to the consumer market and increasing prices by up to 300% in some cases. This is something that can significantly affect the devices that hit stores in the coming months; because RAM is a fundamental component in computers, consoles, tablets and also in mobile phones. Analysts expect that soon users will start paying more for gadgets, which will perform less well.
“Smartphone and computer brands are forced to increase product prices and reduce specifications,” says technology market analysis firm TrendForce in a recent report. The firm emphasizes that, in the field of telephony, the companies most affected will be those specialized in entry-level and mid-range terminals, with prices around 500 euros. Regarding the duration of the RAM shortage, American components manufacturer Micron warned in its latest earnings report that it could even extend “beyond” 2026.
Google vs. ChatGPT
In 2025, Google began to close the gap between its competitors and OpenAI.
Yes, 2025 was the year when Google was finally able to get closer to OpenAI by offering versions of Gemini that, at times, were significantly superior in capabilities to the most advanced ChatGPT. Experts expect competition between the two companies to intensify in the coming months. Something that will also eventually lead to other competitors like Meta, xAI or Anthropic. “There is going to be a great urgency to release new versions of the models more and more quickly that will be better in very specific areas,” Luis Martín, head of AI solutions in Llorente and Cuenca, explains to ABC.
Component shortages can lead to higher prices and poorer specifications for mobile phones.
The expert also hopes that large companies will offer users artificial intelligence tools that, increasingly, will be more multimodal and capable of “well understanding the world in which they find themselves and responding to problems”; either via text and audio or even via the real-time image which can be obtained directly from the smartphone camera.
Minors without social networks
Social networks could become banned for minors under 16 in Spain
On December 10, Australia banned minors under the age of 16 from continuing to have access to social networks or sites like YouTube. The result? The standard had flaws in age verification, so there are still many children who continue to use the same old apps. The same thing happened in the United Kingdom, a country that since last summer has forced adult content pages to add systems that restrict access to minors.
Other countries are expected to start taking similar measures in 2026. And Spain will be one of them. The government has a bill with which it hopes to raise the legal minimum age for having social networks from 14 to 16; and this measure could accompany the launch of the Beta Digital Wallet “application”. This tool, with which the Executive hopes to prevent minors from continuing to access inappropriate spaces and which will have its equivalent in the rest of the European Union. It remains to be seen whether the solution is effective or whether miners find one (or a thousand) way to circumvent it.
Some countries, such as Spain, will try to prevent children under 16 from continuing to access social networks
“We will have to see if large companies take the plunge and accept it by putting in place the security mechanisms to make it compatible. I don’t think the ban route is the right one, because disruption is always attractive, and we already know that there are ways to get around these barriers, like “apps” with VPN. It seems to me, at first, that it is to open doors on the ground,” hacker Antonio Fernandes told the newspaper.
Changes at Apple
Tim Cook, Apple CEO
After more than a decade, Tim Cook’s tenure at the helm of Apple is beginning to come to an end. According to analysts, the Cupertino company is already immersed in the search for a replacement for its current CEO, the same one who, throughout his mandate, managed to lead the company to become one of the three most valuable companies in the world with a market capitalization of 4,000 billion dollars. According to the ‘Financial Times’, the departure of Steve Jobs’ replacement could take place as early as 2026; although others, like “Bloomberg”, point out that it is more likely that the change will be delayed for another year.
“Apple is a money-making machine. But as we have said many times, the “wow” effect in product presentation has been lost. It is possible that the company seeks to recover it by changing direction”, digital sector analyst José Luis Casal explains to this newspaper. Currently, the race for succession at Apple is led by John Ternus, current product manager of the iPhone company. It is also expected that in 2026 it will launch its first foldable mobile phone with a dual screen, a segment in which other manufacturers, such as Samsung, have been competing for more than five years.
The cell phone substitute
The Ray-Ban Display, presented by Meta a few months ago
Over the past few years, Meta has capitalized on the lightweight smart glasses market. Just a few months ago, it presented its new model, the Ray-Ban Meta Display, equipped with the possibility of projecting images on the lens, allowing you to consult messages or notifications from social networks without having to take your phone out of your pocket. The company’s idea is to continue refining the product to put on the street a version that works autonomously and capable of doing the same things as a smartphone.
Google intends to introduce its first smart glasses in years. Apple could do the same in 2027
“Glasses are going to become the replacement for the cell phone,” Edgar Martín-Blas, CEO of the mixed reality company Spatial Voyagers, told the newspaper. The expert emphasizes that “we are moving towards an Internet in which communications no longer have anything to do with screens” and that “everything will work thanks to wearables and artificial intelligence”. Google is expected to announce its first smart glasses since the ill-fated Glass as early as 2026; Analysts suggest Apple will do the same in 2027. Meanwhile, OpenAI is working on a new line of screenless, AI-powered gadgets that could be introduced before the end of next year.
The humanoids are coming
The Neo robot will start working as a butler in a few months
A good handful of technology companies, notably Chinese and American, are determined to install humanoid robots in homes so that they start helping their owners by ironing shirts or cleaning the house. There is the example of the Neo model from the 1X company, a machine that, in theory, will begin to perform all these functions in just a few months. Even if it still presents many autonomy problems, according to experts. It is expected that this technology will start to be much more present in industrial environments, performing very specific tasks in controlled environments. For Casal, 2026 will be a decisive year: “I think we will start to see how these devices will arrive in factories and all manufacturing processes can be much more automated.”
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