Controversial thought: Browsers will become a niche and fall into obscurity like IRC nowadays, based on what I observed working in South East Asia, where people don't even know what browsers are and "the internet" are walled social networks and apps.

It's not controversial, I've heard the same for about 10 years now. I still thinking they're wrong - people who need control cant really on social network apps. People who are just "consumers", sure, but those already don't know what a browser is, so it's not really a prediction about the future it's a statement about the present.