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An arrow pointing into a folder, similar to this. Sidesteps the tech issue altogether.

I reject the question. That's not a picture of a floppy disc, that is the glyph that means save

You literally called it the save symbol. And that's what it is...100 years from now, if we're still around and still have computers, the save icon will still be some stylized glyph based on the floppy disc

The existence of the floppy disc is already just a bit of trivia about the save icon

It's like asking what we should change the Bluetooth symbol to? Why do you yearn for the world to burn?

An icon can be any random glyph, but it has to stay recognizable and consistent in meaning, that's the entire concept here

You can't just jump to the future, so use this one for the next decade:

SD card. Half us old timers won’t even realize it’s not a floppy disk.

every letter in the alphabet started as a symbol of something 2500-6000 years ago, "A" for instance is an upside-down Ox head. people in future generations will continue using the floppy symbol, cuz they learned that means saving, despite floppies not being relevant to their lives

A crucifix...

...because Jesus saves.

I think we should just keep the floppy disk symbol at this point, because it doesn't matter what it was originally based on or whether that exists any more--everyone knows what that symbol means, and it can't really be confused with anything else.

There's no point making an icon that looks like any other particular kind of storage device since those are changing all the time. So we either have to pick some real world thing like a safe or warehouse or grain silo or whatever. or invent some completely new symbol that's not related to anything and then everyone would have to learn it. Which takes us back to just keeping the floppy disk symbol.

Nobody else immediately thought of this?

A squirrel, as in to squirrel it away

Something completely abstract, like this

A CD image. Got to move with the times.

Let's be real, when some shitty company (MS) gets around to it, it will be: ☁️⬆️

A safe or vault symbol as an indicator for safe keeping

A cassette tape.

I've already seen it replaced in some applications. Don't like that.

I know it's "if you have to", but if I have any choice at all, the floppy icon stays.

A quill

Han solo frozen in carbonite

If the floppy disk was no longer the save symbol for software, and I had to chose one, I'd chose the floppy disk symbol.

But you worded your question wisely to avoid that loophole, so I'm not sure what to use instead for an otherwise unique and ubiquitous symbol, already known as "the save file icon" for two generations that have not seen it.

While we're at it, let's also replace the phone icons with a rectangle, as to not confuse anyone.

Ouuh this is a fun one. I find that floppy disks look somewhat similar to SD-cards. Do you think the majority of kids (18 and younger) would recognize SD cards?

⬇️ or

Down arrow pointing to a line, box, folder, or similar. Icons like that are what I've seen most commonly in software that has an icon for saving over the last few years.

Probably an arrow pointing to a hard drive.

the final fantasy 7 save crystal. because just look at it. LOOK AT IT!

A Jesus icon.

Jesus saves.