Every so often, a public thinker announces they’re quitting smartphones—only to quietly return a few months later. Even Joshua Rothman, writing in The New Yorker, admits he flirted with switching to a dumbphone before settling on a tightly controlled smartphone setup, supported by extra tools and apps. For adults it’s hard enough; for kids, it’s even tougher.
Writers like Catherine Anne Price and Jonathan Haidt argue that we need better role models—and better technology—to help people push back against an always-on, screen-saturated world. Haidt’s The Anxious Generation makes a compelling case, but here’s a more practical question: what actually comes after the smartphone?
Below are three types of devices that could realistically replace—or radically reduce—our dependence on smartphones by 2030.
Why Smart Rings Still Can’t Replace Your Phone
Smart rings are appealing precisely because they don’t behave like phones. They’re quiet, subtle, and easy to forget you’re wearing them. Instead of demanding attention, they focus on background tasks like sleep tracking, heart rate monitoring, and recovery metrics.
Brands like Oura and Samsung have leaned hard into this screen-free philosophy, designing rings that look more like jewelry than tech.
That restraint is also their biggest limitation. Smart rings are great companions, but terrible substitutes. They can’t handle navigation, rich communication, or quick replies. If your daily life depends on messaging, maps, or media, a ring simply doesn’t have the range to stand alone.
For Minimalists: The Light Phone III
When writer Elias Wachtel described pulling out a Light Phone in The Atlantic, his friends were stunned—and that reaction says everything.
The Light Phone III strips communication down to the essentials. It has a monochrome OLED display, no internet browser, no social media, no email, and no app store. That’s not a bug—it’s the entire mission.
Light positions the phone as either:
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a secondary device for evenings and weekends, or
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a full smartphone replacement for people who want radical digital simplicity
The trade-offs are real. Texting can feel slow without modern autocorrect, and the music player is barebones—songs uploaded from a computer land in one giant playlist with minimal controls. Still, the Light Phone proves that many people don’t need more features; they need fewer distractions.
For Everyday Memory-Makers: Ray-Ban Meta Glasses
If your phone’s main job is capturing life—photos, videos, voice notes—you might not need a phone at all.
The Ray-Ban Meta Glasses, first released in 2023, quietly solved a problem smartphones created: pulling a screen out every time something interesting happens. The second-generation model improves camera quality, audio, and comfort, making them the most practical smart glasses for everyday use right now.
They come in prescription and non-prescription lenses, with classic frames like Wayfarer, Headliner, and Skyler. To anyone else, they look like normal sunglasses. Hidden inside is a camera that lets you capture photos and videos hands-free—no phone required.
For many people, that alone replaces one of the most frequent reasons they reach for a smartphone.
For a True Post-Smartphone World: Meta Orion AR Glasses
If the Light Phone represents subtraction, the Meta Orion represents replacement.
Seen up close at Meta headquarters in Menlo Park, Orion looks like thick-framed sunglasses—but the resemblance ends there. According to Bloomberg, the glasses can display YouTube videos, show text messages, handle video calls, and even suggest recipes after scanning a table of food.
Interaction is the real breakthrough:
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Eye movements control on-screen focus
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A wristband reads subtle finger gestures for clicks and scrolling
Tasks that normally require a phone—or even a laptop—feel faster and more immersive when the interface floats naturally in front of you. Rahul Prasad has described ease-of-use as the key shift, and Mark Zuckerberg has echoed that vision in conversations with The Verge.
The Bigger Picture
By 2030, replacing the smartphone likely won’t mean swapping one slab of glass for another. Instead, it will mean splitting its functions across devices that are quieter, more intentional, and better matched to specific needs:
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Dumbphones for focus
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Wearables for health
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Smart glasses for memory, communication, and computing
The smartphone won’t disappear overnight—but for the first time in years, it finally looks replaceable.
