True Ventures co-founder Jon Callaghan believes smartphones are nearing the end of their dominance, and possibly their relevance. According to him, humans may stop using smartphones as we know them within five years and could abandon them entirely in a decade.
Callaghan isn’t speculating casually. His venture capital firm, True Ventures, has spent two decades backing products that reshape how humans interact with technology. Past successes include Fitbit, Peloton, Ring, HashiCorp, and Duo Security, companies that introduced new behaviors long before they became mainstream.
“We’re not going to be using iPhones in 10 years,” Callaghan says. “And in five years, we’ll be using them in very different ways.”
His core argument is that smartphones are inefficient as an interface between humans and intelligence. Pulling out a phone to send messages, write emails, or capture ideas disrupts daily life and introduces friction that technology should be eliminating, not creating.
Because of this belief, True Ventures has been investing for years in alternative interfaces, ranging from wearables to voice-based and hardware-software hybrids. This thesis recently led the firm to back Sandbar, a voice-activated ring worn on the index finger that captures and organizes thoughts through quick voice notes.
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Described as a “thought companion,” the device is not meant to compete with AI pins or health trackers. Instead, it focuses on a single human need: capturing ideas the moment they appear. According to Callaghan, that behavior, not the hardware itself, is the real innovation.
“It does one thing really well,” he says. “And it enables a behavior we’ll soon realize we can’t live without.”
True Ventures was drawn not only to the product but also to Sandbar’s founders, Mina Fahmi and Kirak Hong, both of whom previously worked on neural interfaces at CTRL-Labs before its acquisition by Meta. Their shared vision around human-computer interaction aligned closely with ideas True had been exploring internally for years.
This focus on behavior over gadgets echoes Callaghan’s earlier investment philosophy. With Peloton, he famously said, “It’s not about the bike.” The success came from the habits and community the product created, not the hardware itself.
Despite massive capital flowing into AI infrastructure and billion-dollar startup valuations, True Ventures continues to stick to early-stage investing. The firm typically writes seed checks between $3 million and $6 million, aiming for meaningful ownership rather than scale for scale’s sake.
Callaghan is optimistic about AI’s future but cautious about the current wave of capital-heavy infrastructure spending. He believes the greatest opportunities lie not in data centers or chips, but in applications, especially those that redefine how humans interact with intelligence.
“It should feel scary and lonely,” he says of early-stage investing. “If you’re not being called crazy, you’re probably late.”
With smartphone growth slowing to just 2% annually and wearables expanding at double-digit rates, Callaghan believes the shift is already underway. Whether it’s rings, voice-first devices, or something else entirely, one thing seems clear: the way humans interact with technology is changing, and True Ventures is betting early on what comes next.
