Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Combadges
6. Discovery's New Tricom Badges
The crew of the Discovery were introduced to a lot of new technology after travelling to the 32nd century, including tricom badges, an invention that replaced Starfleet combadges at some point before their arrival.
In addition to a sleek new design and the addition of rank markers, the tricom badges also included several built-in devices to help with life in the final frontier. These devices were activated by hand gestures and tapping and included a personal transporter interface, a tricorder, and a holographic PADD to connect to the computer archive.
In much the same way that the original combadges removed the need for handheld communicators, tricom badges cut down on the preparation needed for away missions and made life much more convenient in Starfleet by combining multiple devices into one. The Discovery crew took a while to get used to their upgrades, but soon embraced them along with the other 32nd century tech they acquired.