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The longer youve been working in tech media, the easier it is to see whats coming.
Predicting the biggest tech trends for the coming year doesnt involve consulting a crystal ball or a psychic.
In this case, I chose Tim Bajarin.
As always, Bajarin has thoughts regarding my 2025 predictions.
Ive included many of them here.
Lance agrees with me.
In other words, less wondering, “What was this made for?”
There is too much confusion, and we are still in the hand-holding phase of AI.
Its a good point.
Enter the agents
2025 will be the breakthrough year for AI agents.
Building agents will be the biggest thing in AI in 2025, he says.
So, its building and utility.
TheHumane AIs,Rabbit R1s,Friends, andPlaudsof our world will not survive 2025.
Bajarin was a bit less convinced of this prediction and would only reply, Possibly.
Props to Bajarin for keeping me real on this.
I could tell that he sort of agreed, but with muted enthusiasm.
More or less, he says.
Exactly the marketing dollars in 2025 and 2026 will, unless Im very mistaken, be mostly for Copilot.
For consumers itll feel inescapable, although I cant tell if they will embrace it.
2025 is Microsoft’s opportunity.
Meta is clearly ahead, but Snap, which has access to the same silicon, should catch up.
Here, I struck a Bajarin nerve.
He had many thoughts, and not all of them were in alignment with mine.
However, there will not be breakthrough technology that delivers true in-lens data that is worth anything in 2025.
I dont think we will see a slimmer Vision Pro at a cheaper price until 2026 at the earliest.
That’s even as people looking for a sunnier social media conversation head for the exits.
ALuddite movementmay depress Gen Alpha’s entry onto any platform.
Broadly, the bloom is off the social media rose.
Either way, I will continue using it until someone stops me.
Bajarin and I are mostly in sync here.
I do see X losing more users in 2025 and Bluesky and Threads gaining significant ground.
I like how Bajarin is too cool to spell out exactly which Musk projects will distract him.
That could definitely be diverting, to say the least.
Bajarin didnt offer comment on this prediction, which I’ll take as an automatic win.
Maybe that changes next year.
Okay, my winning streak collapsed here.
Bajarin is not on board with this last idea.
I am not optimistic about Apple doing a folding phone at all.I wrote about this last week.
Hes not wrong, but I think Apple could be the spark that ignites a frenzy.
Lets say Apple only shows us a folding tablet.
I know, its just one dream scenario, but it could happen in 2025.
Tariffs cascade
I fully expecttariffs to destabilize the tech industry.
The free flow of, say, silicon between other countries and the US could slow to a trickle.
Bajarin is no more optimistic than I am about this.
This is an important point.
If Trump goes through with tariffs, it will impact all tech companies that make products in China…
The reasoning around tariffs is to bring more manufacturing back to the US.
That boat sailed 15 years ago and will never happen.
In the end, American workers and consumers wont be the benefactors in 2025.
I dont know what 2026 will look like.
Oh, and robots.
Unfortunately, none of them will be ready to come home with you.
