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Comment by allenbina | Hacker News Reader

I feel like they would make a killing if they made a pro version that would be able to dock into a simplified desktop. I’ve been wanting this for years. They love taking a semi cooked idea and polishing it and this could make Samsung dex look like a child’s tool. I think a lot of this community would be interested in something like that. I like what they did with CarPlay, now they just need office play.

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You, me and the general market are completely different. Apple’s problem is their decreasing sales in China, which has been one of the biggest contributors to their revenue and profits. China has been successfully reinventing its image among locals, and “western products” are less prestigious nowadays. I mean, they still are, but people are more willing to spend an equivalent price for Chinese products.

Because some are actually superior. Especially folding phones out of China are well ahead.

I've wanted the same for a long time. The ability to dock my phone and let it drive a display and desktop. Not because I think it would be better at it, but because it already has my stuff.

Google Pixels are heading in this direction, with Pixel 8 supporting USB-c DisplayPort Alt Mode and Android working on Debian Linux VMs.

Hopefully Pixel Tablet 3 will challenge Apple iPad Pro with Linux VMs, https://www.androidauthority.com/google-pixel-tablet-3-power....

You can connect an iPhone to a USB-C monitor and a bluetooth keyboard already. It just kind of sucks.

> You can connect an iPhone to a USB-C monitor and a bluetooth keyboard already. It just kind of sucks.

Because Apple refuses to allow it to be a computer. They don’t want the iPhone consuming their MacBook sales. If Apple really cared about the environment, they’d replace the iPad mini, the iPhone, and the MacBook Air with a foldable, dockable iPhone that gave access to the underlying system just like a laptop.

this is part of a very obvious change they could make to separate the device from the monitor/view capabilities, and have it connect to other apple products and communicate. The reality is that its not an easy thing to do and they would have to create something very new to be able to do it. Don't hold your breath. They actually decreased OS capabilities of the device when they went to mobile intentionally and they have no incentive to increase capabilities.

Apple has come a long way from people waiting outside the stores for products of the future to charging $200 more every release for an extra 2 mega pixel on the camera. They are over due for some disruption. Hopefully, someone sees the opportunity.

> not an easy thing .. create something very new

Some building blocks exist:

  - earlier iPadOS shipped with a hypervisor
  - M3 supports nested virtualization
  - Apple recently allowed UTM to (slowly) run Win/Linux VMs on iOS
  - VM streaming protocols are widely used on Windows and Linux

Google Pixel, Qualcomm Oryon or Nvidia Arm PCs with mainline Linux support would bring needed competition.

I’ve wanted this with an iPad for years. A proper mouse, higher resolution and a few UI tweaks and it replaces a laptop for most people.

I assume it’s just to stop it cannibalising other product sales.

Why would you want to do this with an iPad? That's just a laptop without the accessories. A phone fits in your pocket and you have it with you anyway.

Because an ipad pro is viable as a monitor. With a phone you would need an external monitor.

I know but why an iPad and not a laptop? A phone has it's drawbacks yes, but is a very big tradeoff of always being with you, and being tiny. What does an iPad offer over just a laptop?

An iPad is more portable and lighter and cheaper than a MacBook. On some days I would like to use a tablet for much of my day (between meetings, checking emails) and switch to a laptop like experience for an hour or so.

Samsung had this for years and people are generally uninterested. I love the thought to have the _possibility_ of plugging the phone in a USB-C dock and everything works, but honestly, I have done this... like, zero+1 times. For those times I'd need my proper desktop OS, and mobile apps / file handling etc. are just inferior.

Well unlike Samsung, Apple has a great user friendly “proper” desktop environment they could teach their mobile devices to run. Plug iPhone into a USB-C monitor and get a full macOS computer and I’d have no complaints.

Now, they never will because it just doesn’t seem like their style to give users more capabilities on iOS/iPadOS devices. Even if they put the macOS stuff in a container or VM so there’s a strong security boundary.

I think Apple might be worried it would cannibalise some of their other products like the iPad.

I've liked the idea since the Dex as well, but I feel like there is a product segmentation reason that makes them hesitant.

I basically couldn’t disagree more. This feature would be useful to you and me but to the other 95% of their customers it’s just more feature bloat they’ll never use.

> they would make a killing > dock into a simplified desktop > could make Samsung dex look like a child's toy

is this a pure blind fanboy comment? because even my years old second hand Samsung phone streaming to a TV (without dex) with Termux without root is more capable than your shitty & shinning iPad, let alone a 137 megapixel iPhone Max Pro that barely can sideload an app

edit: fuck the Android too, i just use this shit because society obligates me to (Whatsapp, non-tech friends on Instagam etc.)

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