Smartphone-based devices and associated tools are becoming the ideal next-generation point-of-care testing (POCT) solutions for in vitro diagnostics. The global COVID-19 pandemic has led to frugal innovations in POCT. The World Health Organization (WHO) has endorsed POCT as the topmost research priority in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Digital POCT platforms have spurred the market, demonstrating how the iterative nature of science can be leveraged to achieve WHOs ASSURED criteria that define the paradigm of ideal point-of-care diagnostics and a key design principle. The study focuses on the growth opportunities and strategic imperatives that are driving new diagnostic algorithms, massively boosted by COVID-19 and a matured diabetes market that is now well suited for remote diagnostics. The study assesses how current POCT platforms using smartphones for respiratory and metabolic diseases are being transformed in the new era of 5G, Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence/machine learning, and alternate care sites. The advent of alternate care sites, notably retail, indicates a future driven by digitally empowered patient and connected diagnostic tests. The dawn of 5G (cellular) with machine-based intelligence, data analytics, and IoT promises new ways to personalize diagnostic testing by reducing hospital visits and medical costs and by building evidence to assure the practicalities of precision diagnostics. Increased government funding, notably for respiratory tract infections, in the United States is setting the tone for testing at scale or consumerization in diagnostic testing. With the growing need for rapid screening at scale for respiratory diseases and saliva sample-based testing, more people opting for self-monitoring indicate the widespread adoption of digital POCT platforms. An ageing population in the United States and Europe prone to heart problems and dependent on automobiles or shared mobility depicts an untapped segment in this market. Digital diagnostic companies, such as Biomensio (smartphone Biosensing) and Tempus (AI-powered diagnostics at the point of care), could eventually compel companies in established industries, such as automobile manufacturers and telecom operators, to rethink their competitive stance and explore opportunities in the healthcare value chain. While the connected-car ecosystem is evolving with more powerful and cognitive technologies, the car as a connected digital hub stands to offer multiple new revenue opportunities, such as stress management, blood glucose monitoring, driver sensing and monitoring, heart rate monitoring, mHealth software-based diagnostics, and allergy alerts. Novel technologies, such as near-field consumer diagnostics (or Bluetooth lateral flow immunoassays), incorporating disposable wireless sensors could take rapid testing to a new level, penetrating several applications, such as food safety, bacterial detection, consumer health, and mobile payments. Lab-on-mobile-device solutions configured to read any lateral flow test strip that can provide sensitive real-time analysis and quantify test strips at a fraction of the cost of current solutions could win the value race. Manufacturers partnering with pharmaceutical drug developers leveraging new distribution channels will ensure the rapid scalability of testing; therefore, Blockchain-based supply chain management platforms to authenticate and provide the end-to-end tracking and monitoring of diagnostic tests, including for COVID-19, is important. With connected patients, connected care programs incorporating the use of information technology, notably EHR, to exchange health data across care teams and partnering with delivery systems to improve quality of care will be the key to deliver on the promise of personalized medicine. Increased patient engagement and pay-for-performance structures are anticipated to improve health outcomes and reduce expenditures. Pure participants, such as Abbott, Roche, and PerkinElmer, will embrace the 5G transformation because of the large number of installed bases, democratizing point-of-care testing in retail sites, airports, and homes; however, the 5G health renaissance spearheaded by IoT participants, such as Intel, will redefine patient care, notably in hospital settings. The convergence of 5G telecom operators, such as Ericsson, and IoT solution providers, such as Intel, will pave the way for new macro-economic monetization models, where consumers are empowered with dedicated network slices and edge storage, in addition to artificial intelligence capabilities. With innovations in biosensors and remote diagnostics, assessing health parameters and vital signs will become more convenient, mobile, and cost effective. POCT manufacturers will largely benefit by tapping consumer markets (e.g., retail sites and in-car testing) and partnering with clinical laboratories and IoT solution providers to offer minimally invasive connected testing at point-of-care settings.