The "Smartphones Replacing Wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay)" (Episode: "Bart Gets an F", 1990)

The Simpsons has earned quite the reputation for seemingly predicting the future. It’s actually a bit of a meme at this point, with fans pointing out how many things in the real world appear to have been "predicted" by the show, sometimes years in advance. While some of these predictions are purely coincidental or the result of broad satire, others do seem oddly prescient.

The "Smartphones Replacing Wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay)" (Episode: "Bart Gets an F", 1990)

• What happened: The show predicted that smartphones would eventually replace wallets, with characters using their phones to pay for things.
• Reality: By the mid-2010s, mobile payment systems like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay became widely adopted, allowing people to make payments with their smartphones, eliminating the need for physical wallets or credit cards.