As we approach the end of the year, most people are celebrating the successes of companies like Apple in achieving heights of innovation or Samsung for their design excellence. However, the year was also marked by some damp squibs as well. Here is a look at the disappointing aspects of 2021:

       Flip phones

       Although Samsung got the Fold design right, flip phones are still far from perfect. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 could not take off as well despite the price drops. Motorola also failed with its second iteration. The design is still fascinating, but the phones have not been able to match the features of their counterparts. Moreover, from a utility perspective, the phones do not offer much. The front screens are too small to display any viable information and there are lags in operation. For flips to have a future, companies will need to rethink their approach.

       Intel’s 11th generation Core processors

       Nothing against Intel, they are still known for their reliability, but the company is constantly being beaten at their game by Apple and AMD. The single core and double core performance is not what is expected of Intel and for now the company has had no answer for the great spec sheet that Apple has thrown with its silicon chips. As new Intel laptops started rolling in 2021, Macs were already winners with superior battery life and performance. However, the world’s largest chipmaker still has a few tricks up its sleeve. A leadership change may propel it again to innovate.

       Metaverse

       Although the term metaverse has been in parlay for long now, the pandemic gave a fillip to metaverse. Travis Scott’s concert on Fortnite attracted millions. However, this year, the term has been associated with Facebook, which changed its name to Meta. Meta and metaverse are still to click with users. Apprehension against big tech has made people wary of how much information they would like to share with such companies. Besides, with uptake of virtual reality and augmented reality still in its nascent phase, metaverse may still be far from reality in coming years.

       Misinformation and cybersecurity

       Much like 2020, this year provided no reprieve from misinformation scandals and social media had no answer to such campaigns. Starting from Capitol riots in the US to anti-vaccine campaigns, social media campaigns were able to gain a lot of traction. It did not help that political parties found messaging apps as another viable medium, which made tracking fake news even more difficult.

       RBI’s standing instruction guidelines

       Although more local, RBI’s new guidelines created nuisance for most companies and operators. With the system still not fully operational, the new standing instruction guidelines came into force on October 1. There were large payment failures across websites as people were not able to operate basic services. Although the system is now improving, it is headed for another disruption starting next year with tokenisaton rules being enforced from January 1. Merchants will have to purge all data and if the system is not ready, it shall lead to further payment delays and pain.