Mobile apps are booming and thriving like there is no tomorrow. In 2020 the mobile app market exceeded $300 billion and by 2025 the market is expected to exceed $600 billion.

People’s lives are increasingly digital, and this extends to how and where they shop, how they get their information and how they communicate.

Software development plays a key role in driving business revenue. Applications that fulfill a unique need, are innovative in meeting that need, and offer a high-quality user experience have the highest levels of user retention. And we already know that the more users, the more revenue.

Here are the trends to keep in mind when it comes to mobile app development:

m-Commerce or Mobile Commerce

With more and more shoppers preferring to shop online, more and more brands and retailers are creating mobile apps to offer a better shopping experience. Unlike e-commerce, mobile commerce (or m-commerce) involves online shopping through a mobile app rather than a mobile website. The m-commerce market is expected to reach $22 billion by 2022, likely because many B2B and B2C companies have seen an increase in engagement, conversion rates and revenue growth after developing their mobile app.
IoT and Cloud

Internet of Things (IoT) technology and mobile-connected smart objects have been around for years, but the market is growing and IoT spending is expected to reach $1.1 trillion by 2023, according to Statista. The biggest driver for cloud and IoT adoption is security, a growing concern for enterprises. With more than $120 billion spent on IT security in 2019 worldwide, it’s easy to see why enterprises are looking to other solutions. IoT and the cloud offer other benefits, such as reduced operational costs, improved efficiency and increased connections to other platforms through APIs.
Artificial Intelligence

In the quest to deliver personalized user experiences for mobile apps, predictive analytics and machine learning algorithms will be the key technologies to incorporate. AI is essential for navigation, speech recognition and natural language processing (NLP). Behavioral algorithms can also improve security by analyzing user behaviors and detecting fraud, suspicious activity and potential data breaches.
5G

With user benefits such as faster throughput speed, fast data transfer and lower latency, the time has come for your mobile app to support 5G connections.

As Statista states, the 5G market will exceed $600 billion by 2030. Do you have an idea of the room for growth that 5G has on the near horizon?

Wearable usage continues to increase

Wearables

Statista forecasts that there will be 1.1 billion connected wearable devices by 2022 and that the largest number of 5G connections will be made through these devices. Wearables are another way to bring convenience to your users: the ability to receive notifications and messages on their smartwatch was the most prominent wearable feature for U.S. users (Statista). Within the wearables market, fitness tracking and health parameter monitoring has seen strong upward demand.

Beacons

Beacons were introduced in 2013, but are becoming increasingly popular for mobile application development, particularly for retail businesses. For consumers, benefits include real-time, location-specific offers and alerts, as well as the convenience of mobile payments (an essential element of mobile commerce). For businesses, beacons allow them to gain insight into their customers’ preferences and shopping patterns and turn this data into a more personalized shopping experience.

Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality

The integration of AR/VR technology into mobile applications is still an emerging trend, but it is important to be aware of it. The global AR/VR market reached $12 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach $160 billion by 2023 (Statista). As AR/VR technologies advance, they will drive a transformation of mobile applications, particularly in video gaming, entertainment, travel and live video streaming. AR/VR technology is another way to interact with customers in a more personalized way: consumers can try on clothes, see how a piece of furniture would look in their living room, or visualize themselves on their dream vacation.

In conclusion, in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic, which has caused many consumers to move much of their lives online, there is a new impetus to deliver more personalized experiences to each consumer. The mobile app development trends for 2022 echo this new reality and incorporating them into your mobile app roadmap will set you up for success in this new year and beyond.