He predicted that in the next generation, phones would be built under the skin of the ears. Marty Cooperwho is also called the “father of the mobile phone” as he invented the first mobile phone in 1973. “These devices don’t need to be charged because “our body is the perfect charger,” explained Cooper, American news network CNBC of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. “When we eat, our bodies produce energy, right?” he recalled, predicting that these tiny embedded devices would consume the minimum amount of power to operate. After all, it is noted that a number of start-up companies, such as, for example, Elon Musk’s Neuralink, are currently developing technologies aimed at connecting the human brain to computers. Cooper is the man who, while working as an engineer at Motorola in the 1970s, created the first mobile phone. It was a massive boot-shaped device, so heavy that it became known as a “brick”.

The mobile phone market has been stagnant in recent years and it seems like companies are struggling to come up with new, innovative designs.

Today, the veteran engineer says smartphones have become too complex, with too many apps and shapes that don’t fit the curves of the human face. “Every time I’m on the phone and I don’t have a wireless headset, I have to put this flat thing on my round head and keep my hand in an awkward position,” he explained. The truth is that the smartphone market has stagnated in recent years, and as a result, it feels like companies in the industry are struggling to come up with new, innovative designs. And at the same time, the massive proliferation of mobile phones today comes with a host of challenges, ranging from social media addiction to privacy issues. Cooper acknowledges the challenges his creation has brought but is optimistic about the future, believing the technology will bring about many positive changes in areas such as education and healthcare. “I strongly believe in humanity. I look at history and see the progress we’ve made in technology and somehow people find a way. Now the world is better,” said the engineer. The other day, Cooper received an award in Barcelona for the 50th anniversary of the day he made the first cell phone call while walking down New York’s 6th Avenue. Using a Motorola DynaTAC 8000X, the phone featured in the hit movie Wall Street, he called his main competitor at AT&T, Joel Engel.

But the engineer admits that he never imagined that mobile phones would become laptops, as they are today. “Fifty years ago, it was really primeval time. There was no Internet, no large-scale unified networks, no digital cameras,” Cooper said. And he admitted that the idea that mobile phones would one day become a camera and an encyclopedia never crossed his mind. “We knew communication was important. And we also told a joke: that one day, at the moment of birth, you will receive a phone number. And if you didn’t answer the phone, you’d be dead. So we knew that one day everyone would have a cell phone. And it almost happened,” he said.