iPhone as a Mac

[Zest28]

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra can run a desktop version of Android when connected to an external display. So it basically turns into a computer when you attach a keyboard, mouse and an external display to the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.

The iPhone can do the same, with the desktop version of iOS being Mac OS.

Apple users find 8GB RAM sufficient, so the iPhone is more than capable to function as a Mac. I think Samsung really had a genius idea, transforming your iPhone as a computer at home.

I know Apple will never do this as it will kill off many Mac sales, just like how Apple refuses to put Mac OS on the iPad as that would kill off Mac sales. But this would be an amazing feature, as the iPhone is all what people would need.

There would still be a Mac for people who need more power than an iPhone provides, so the Mac will still exist.

It's too bad that we will never see this innovation happening due to $$$$$$.

 

[ian87w]

Well, Samsung DeX mode would be closer to the iPhone running an iPadOS GUI, not macOS. And it's not really well thought out imo. I use my S7 FE tablet as my main computer, and I have it on regular tablet mode all the time rather than DeX. The DeX mode has so many limitations and issues that it's simply unusable for me as many things are only accessible/usable from the regular Android mode.

 

[Zest28]

Well, Samsung DeX mode would be closer to the iPhone running an iPadOS GUI, not macOS. And it's not really well thought out imo. I use my S7 FE tablet as my main computer, and I have it on regular tablet mode all the time rather than DeX. The DeX mode has so many limitations and issues that it's simply unusable for me as many things are only accessible/usable from the regular Android mode.

Not really. iPad OS is not a desktop OS. I have tried running the M1 12.9 iPad Pro on an external display and it is really bad.

Well, Apple can do it better than Samsung Dex by putting Mac OS on the iPhone. And the iPhone is powerful to do it.

These iPhones are more powerful than Intel MacBook Pro's from a few years ago.

 

[ian87w]

Not really. iPad OS is not a desktop OS. I have tried running the M1 12.9 iPad Pro on an external display and it is really bad.

Well, Apple can do it better than Samsung Dex by putting Mac OS on the iPhone. And the iPhone is powerful to do it.

And neither is Samsung DeX. It's just regular Android with a skin resembling a regular Windows desktop. There's no "desktop OS version" of Android. The closest was when Google made Android tablets. As such, my point of iPadOS.

What you want is like asking Samsung to put Linux as dual boot on their Galaxy phones.

 

[bobcomer]

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra can run a desktop version of Android when connected to an external display. So it basically turns into a computer when you attach a keyboard, mouse and an external display to the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.

Just because it kind of does, doesn't mean it's at the daily driver level. I've tried it on my Flip4 and haven't ever tried again.

pple users find 8GB RAM sufficient, so the iPhone is more than capable to function as a Mac. I think Samsung really had a genius idea, transforming your iPhone as a computer at home.

I know Apple will never do this as it will kill off many Mac sales, just like how Apple refuses to put Mac OS on the iPad as that would kill off Mac sales. But this would be an amazing feature, as the iPhone is all what people would need.

Apple doesn't do dual booting, and that's not what android does. Android's DeX is more of just a graphical shell app.

We're a long way from only having our phones as our main computing device.

 

[Zest28]

And neither is Samsung DeX. It's just regular Android with a skin resembling a regular Windows desktop. There's no "desktop version" of Android.

It doesn't matter what Samsung does. Apple can do it better by putting Mac OS on the iPhone. The iPhone is more than powerful enough to do it.

 

[Zest28]

Just because it kind of does, doesn't mean it's at the daily driver level. I've tried it on my Flip4 and haven't ever tried again.


Apple doesn't do dual booting, and that's not what android does. Android's DeX is more of just a graphical shell app.

We're a long way from only having our phones as our main computing device.

Apple can easily add dual booting if they wanted to. It doesn't matter what Samsung does, it's the idea that matters.

And the iPhone can run Mac OS if Apple would allow it.

 

[ian87w]

Okay, sounds like another “Apple must do what I want and I don’t want to hear any other discussions” thread. Ciao.😊

 

[bobcomer]

Apple can easily add dual booting if they wanted to.

That's just it, they don't want to. Look at the M1 and M2 iPad Pro -- that's where it would make sense *now* and it's not there.

 

[BenGoren]

Eh, the challenge for a “desktop experience” isn’t the CPU. It’s the display, keyboard, and input device. If you’ve already got those big things, you can trivially package in a CPU more powerful than you can package inside a phone.

The whole point of the phone form factor is that it’s small and pocketable. The whole point of a desktop / laptop / whatever is that it’s got a nice big display and a full-sized keyboard.

If your worry is that you’ve got “stuff” on your phone that you’d like to access on-the-go with a desktop-sized system … well, I already do that all the time. With iCloud.

And if your objection is that you don’t want to rely on the cloud for that sort of thing … sorry. You might as well object to getting on a train because they don’t feed hay to the engine, and what respectable horse eats coal?

b&

 

[257Loner]

That is a genius idea. The iPhone could replace the Mac Mini. Just imagine: You sit at your desk. You attach your iPhone to a MagSafe charging stand that's plugged in to your display. You've also brought your own keyboard and mouse or trackpad, and your iPhone connects to them through Bluetooth. You have your macOS login authenticated by Face ID or your Magic Keyboard's Touch ID, and macOS boots from your iPhone.

 

[StellarVixen]

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra can run a desktop version of Android when connected to an external display. So it basically turns into a computer when you attach a keyboard, mouse and an external display to the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.

The iPhone can do the same, with the desktop version of iOS being Mac OS.

Apple users find 8GB RAM sufficient, so the iPhone is more than capable to function as a Mac. I think Samsung really had a genius idea, transforming your iPhone as a computer at home.

I know Apple will never do this as it will kill off many Mac sales, just like how Apple refuses to put Mac OS on the iPad as that would kill off Mac sales. But this would be an amazing feature, as the iPhone is all what people would need.

There would still be a Mac for people who need more power than an iPhone provides, so the Mac will still exist.

It's too bad that we will never see this innovation happening due to $$$$$$.

Gimmick. It's been years since Samsung introduced that and no one went crazy over it.

 

[Sami13496]

I don't think many people here understood the OP’s original thought. It would be a neat solution at the level of idea. I’m sure Apple would find a way to implement it much better than Samsung, because Apple is about experience first. The technical implementation is not important now, surely there would be a solution for that. However, from an experience perspective, this idea would only work as a desktop computer. Imagine you have an Apple monitor, mouse and keyboard on your desk. You come to your desk, put your iPhone on the table and start working through MacOS on the monitor screen, as if you had Mac Mini sitting there. The problem is, that this concept wouldn't work with laptops because no one would be lugging around a separate keyboard and monitor for that. And a MacBook-like shell that doesn't have its own computer inside wouldn't make much sense. Unless it was really really thin. The same goes for a iPad-like shell. Unless it was really really thin too. But those would really just be combinations of screens and keyboards and would probably be presented and priced on the same principle as accessories like keyboard for iPad. Expensive of course but still iPhone might have to cost more to compensate the returns Apple now gets from MacBooks and iPads.

 

[257Loner]

I don't think many people here understood the OP’s original thought. It would be a neat solution at the level of idea. I’m sure Apple would find a way to implement it much better than Samsung, because Apple is about experience first. The technical implementation is not important now, surely there would be a solution for that. However, from an experience perspective, this idea would only work as a desktop computer. Imagine you have an Apple monitor, mouse and keyboard on your desk. You come to your desk, put your iPhone on the table and start working through MacOS on the monitor screen, as if you had Mac Mini sitting there. The problem is, that this concept wouldn't work with laptops because no one would be lugging around a separate keyboard and monitor for that. And a MacBook-like shell that doesn't have its own computer inside wouldn't make much sense. Unless it was really really thin. The same goes for a iPad-like shell. Unless it was really really thin too. But those would really just be combinations of screens and keyboards and would probably be presented and priced on the same principle as accessories like keyboard for iPad. Expensive of course but still iPhone might have to cost more to compensate the returns Apple now gets from MacBooks and iPads.

I agree. One's iPhone could barely replace a Mac Mini this way, but not a MacBook Pro or Mac Pro.

 

[thefourthpope]

We know Apple is thinking / has thought about this. Apologies to MR that I can’t find the article on here, but this is the same piece. A patent design on a laptop shell into which you plug your phone.

I think when the Magic Keyboard came out and we got rumors of the M1 chip in iPads, this is what people got excited for. Attach the iPad (or in OP’s example, iPhone) to the correct peripherals and you get a full MacOS experience.

 

[russell_314]

It doesn't matter what Samsung does. Apple can do it better by putting Mac OS on the iPhone. The iPhone is more than powerful enough to do it.

Could but why?

They would have to add Thunderbolt ports and maybe upgrade the SSD. Even then it would be a crippled Mac mini with half the performance of a MacBook Air and cost $1500. Have you looked at the price of a base Mac mini?

Who would buy that other than the ooh it looks cool one off buyer.

 

[BrianBaughn]

I think Apple would only support such a setup when connected to their external devices ($$$$$)…some of which they don't even make…like a necessary hub.

 

[bobcomer]

I don't think many people here understood the OP’s original thought. It would be a neat solution at the level of idea. I’m sure Apple would find a way to implement it much better than Samsung, because Apple is about experience first. The technical implementation is not important now, surely there would be a solution for that. However, from an experience perspective, this idea would only work as a desktop computer. Imagine you have an Apple monitor, mouse and keyboard on your desk. You come to your desk, put your iPhone on the table and start working through MacOS on the monitor screen, as if you had Mac Mini sitting there. The problem is, that this concept wouldn't work with laptops because no one would be lugging around a separate keyboard and monitor for that. And a MacBook-like shell that doesn't have its own computer inside wouldn't make much sense. Unless it was really really thin. The same goes for a iPad-like shell. Unless it was really really thin too. But those would really just be combinations of screens and keyboards and would probably be presented and priced on the same principle as accessories like keyboard for iPad. Expensive of course but still iPhone might have to cost more to compensate the returns Apple now gets from MacBooks and iPads.

I am 100% certain it will happen eventually, and in maybe not too long a time, a decade or two. It just can't happen just yet, the phones aren't powerful enough and can't cool themselves enough, plus we need better bluetooth.

For light users, maybe real soon, but for work like most of us here use computers, not for awhile.

 

[antiprotest]

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra can run a desktop version of Android when connected to an external display. So it basically turns into a computer when you attach a keyboard, mouse and an external display to the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.

The iPhone can do the same, with the desktop version of iOS being Mac OS.

Apple users find 8GB RAM sufficient, so the iPhone is more than capable to function as a Mac. I think Samsung really had a genius idea, transforming your iPhone as a computer at home.

I know Apple will never do this as it will kill off many Mac sales, just like how Apple refuses to put Mac OS on the iPad as that would kill off Mac sales. But this would be an amazing feature, as the iPhone is all what people would need.

There would still be a Mac for people who need more power than an iPhone provides, so the Mac will still exist.

It's too bad that we will never see this innovation happening due to $$$$$$.

This is, in fact, not a genius idea, but an ultra obvious idea that many companies and consumers have thought about, and that appeared in a phone as far as 10 years ago. It will certainly be useful, and for many people it will be sufficient to achieve a "one device for everything" lifestyle. In any case, Apple will never go for it. They would never cannibalize their own products, but they would offer excuses like wanting to offer the best "user experience."

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

To be honest, I don’t really see the point.
You can buy a $1500 phone, a $500-1000 display, and apples keyboard and mice together are about $300.
So in the end you’re paying $3000… to do something in an even more cumbersome and complicated way than if you just spent $3000 on a phone and computer separately.
Great, now every time I want to do something power intensive on my computer, I have to go plug it in.
And if it’s taking a long time, well… I can’t just walk away with my phone, it’s plugged in.
And don’t give me that “they can do it wirelessly” BS, there’s absolutely no way that you could run an entire operating system and send it to a display off of a tiny phone using just Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
It would be a laggy mess, so you would obviously have to have it connected via a cable.
Maybe it’s just me but… I like having full access to my phone, even when I’m using my computer at the same time.
No more chilling in the living room with my phone while the computer chugs away at something in the office.
It’s a cool idea, but it’s not practical.
Anyone who could easily do this more than likely can just… use their phone for everything already.

 

[Bodhitree]

Microsoft probably came up with this idea first, with the Continuum phones back a decade ago. I recall seeing a tech article where someone installed Windows 11 on Arm onto a Lumia 950 XL from back then, and talked about it’s glacial slowness. 10-20 seconds per operation wait time, but it does run. It might be interesting again at some point when they optimise Windows 11 on Arm a bit.

Modern phones are a lot more capable than those from ten years ago, you could certainly run MacOS on there since it already runs on Arm. But Apple aren’t really interested in selling you fewer devices or providing a low-spec, basic computing architecture for everyone. They’ve just used the M1 chip to provide a huge uplift for all the low end computers in their lineup, getting everyone on a new level of computing performance.

A phone running a full OS would be a second-class citizen as far as computers go, it wouldn’t be as good an experience. It might be popular in Asia or Africa, where people’s phones are often their only computing device, but those markets aren’t exactly Apple’s biggest.

When Qualcomm releases Nuvia chip designs we might see some interest in doing this kind of thing, but then I’d think it will be an Android thing.