Tech That Will (Probably) Die in 2018

These apps, companies, and devices have flown too close to the sun. The tech grim reaper is coming for them, and he is without mercy.

The tech world operates just like the natural one: weeding out the chaff through cold, unsentimental natural selection. Buying habits, user behavior, societal trends, and the forward march of technological innovation always leave a heap of failed or outdated products, companies, and trends in the dust. Whether it's a veteran device struck by the hammer of obsolescence or a new glorious entry into the Museum of Failure, for some tech it's simply time to die.

We love predicting what tech will meet its demise in the coming year, but we don't always get it right. In 2016, we made 11 death pool predictions. Let's take a look at how we did:

1. GoPro. Not quite. GoPro is still releasing new action cams like the Hero 6, but its stock continues to tank as the company enters what seems like a long, slow death spiral.
2. Android Wear. Nope! Android Wear may have a murky future, but it's not dead.
3. Windows Phones. RIP.
4. Twitter, Inc. Hell no, baby! Twitter still loses gobs of money and can barely run itself competently, but thanks to our Tweeter-in-Chief, Twitter has become an addictive dumpster fire we can't help stare at while slow-roasting our poor souls.
5. The Galaxy Note Brand. Wrong again. Samsung somehow bounced back from its fiery phone fiasco to release a pretty great Galaxy Note 8$929.99 at Samsung.
6. The Barnes & Noble Nook. Somehow, Amazon's Kindle line hasn't quite put the final nail in Nook's coffin. B&N announced new $50 tablets earlier in the year and began selling a new line of Nook GlowLight 3s this holiday season.
7. YouTube Red. Nope, still kickin'.
8. Google Cardboard. Kind of. Google's DIY augmented reality headset is still available, but Google is more focused on the Daydream View$89.90 at Amazon as the mixed reality space grows crowded with a bevy of Windows partner headsets.
9. Marissa Mayer's Tenure as CEO. This one was a gimme.
10. Internet Explorer. We're going to give ourselves this one. IE still technically exists, but Microsoft Edge is the default Windows browser now and, by the way, it rocks.
11. Elon Musk. I don't know why we keep putting Elon on here, but it stops now. ‘Ol Musky has too many irons in the fire—Tesla, SpaceX, The Boring Company, Hyperloop, Neuralink, SolarCity—for his tech to die anytime soon (or ever, if he colonizes Mars). Let the man have his lavish product reveals and pretend to be Tony Stark. He's got too many horcruxes to be defeated.