I think that's exactly the other way around. While my desktop has a lot of memory for the large pages, my mobile device has only about 2 gb. Browsing tumblr for example kills my phone's browser if I read more than 10 "pages".
I am also more likely to open tabs on my desktop than on my phone because it's more complicated to switch to the newly opened tab in Chrome.
Precisely correct. Like you, on my desktop, I counter the user interface deficiencies of infinite scrolling by opening links in new tabs. This prevents the very real and very annoying problem of not being able to return to the infinitely-scrolling list view at the position I left it. Tabs prevent that loss of page context.
On a mobile device, tab-based workarounds are possible but more cumbersome, so I usually choose to open one item from the infinite scrolling list traditionally. If when I return via the back button, context is lost, I usually concede defeat by this bad user interface paradigm and leave the site.
I've found the other way around to be my reality on Monday Mornings coughbittorrenting when my network is somehow constrained.
Tumblr refuses to load the `next page`, and I don't want to hit the refresh keystroke combination because I really really don't want to go back to the top of the "page". I simply want the "next page" to load correctly.
I am also more likely to open tabs on my desktop than on my phone because it's more complicated to switch to the newly opened tab in Chrome.