[eloisant]

No I don't think so.

To be able to dock it you need a screen and keyboard (or a laptop-style "shell"). That means you need a device that takes just as much space as an independent device but can't be used unless you plug your phone to it. The only benefit is a slight lower cost - but then you need to make sure your phone is powerful enough so a cheap Android is out of the picture.

You've been saying this for ages, and manufacturers have been trying it for ages (Motorola Atrix, Samsung Dex...) but it doesn't catch on. So maybe you should reconsider your prediction!

[JumpCrisscross]

> you need a device that takes just as much space as an independent device but can't be used unless you plug your phone to it

Flip side: it’s a device that just works, doesn’t need to be kept patched and updated and where syncing is never an issue. It’s an external monitor for your phone plus a keyboard.

The prediction has fallen on its face due to the mobile component not being central enough. If half my life is on my laptop and half on my phone, a desktop makes sense. (Though I go for external monitors to my laptop.) But if all my stuff is on my phone, losing the syncing tax becomes more meaningful.

[lmm]

Now that I'm using a Surface Book 2 as my primary computer, with a Surface Dock set up on my desk at home with screen/keyboard/speakers/etc., I'm more confident than ever that this future is coming eventually - but also confident that it will take a long time. Having a single device makes a surprisingly big difference from having two separate devices (home PC and travel laptop), but is also not worth sacrificing power for. The technical users who will become early adopters want a first-class home PC, so just as laptops only started to actually displace desktops once they had enough RAM etc. to match them, it'll be the same for phones, and they'll probably need to be x86-based phones for the sake of being able to run old programs.

[codetrotter]

Apple already made it possible on macOS to run x86_64 software on their ARM computers, with Rosetta 2.

Any company with enough resources could do the same if they felt so inclined.

And if Apple wanted to, Apple could make Rosetta 2 run on iOS devices. For now they want to keep them mostly separate, and are more about running iPad apps on macOS than the other way around. But there is nothing stopping Apple from running desktop software, whether compiled for x86_64 or for ARM, on iOS devices if they wanted to. And if convergence turns out to be the future then I think we may see them do that eventually. But I am not convinced that it will.

[AussieWog93]

>Apple could make Rosetta 2 run on iOS devices

From what I understand, M1 Macs have specialised hardware that allows them to emulate x64 with good performance. It's not just software.

[codetrotter]

Was not aware of that. But either way in that case they can do something similar in the hardware for future iOS devices, if they wish to.

[vineyardmike]

> they'll probably need to be x86-based phones for the sake of being able to run old programs.

Maybe its the other way around?

Maybe we need to wait until the old way of doing things is so forgotten we can accept the phone-way as a valid way. As long has people have their x86 applications, they'll want to use them. Once people stop caring - well then there is an app for that.

[AnIdiotOnTheNet]

Years ago I had a similar thought to parent, only without the dock. I figured phones would have micro projectors to throw a display on any convenient wall and a laser keyboard[0] to throw onto a table.

These days I no longer think that'll happen largely because the kinds of things people want a desktop computer for are really much better served by an actual computer, while mobile users have adapted to not even wanting a desk.

[0] https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0531/2285/9174/products/im...

[Zababa]

> The only benefit is a slight lower cost

Not only that, but having a single source of truth for your files, OS and things like that.

[stonemetal12]

We are already there with laptops and laptop docks. It could certainly be a cellphone dock in the future but the phones just aren't powerful enough now. Maybe an iPhone with an M2 or M3?