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MacOS & iOS convergence, iPhone connectivity to external display?

W

wimdows

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 17, 2012
70
16
With the move to ARM chips and the convergence of desktop OS and iOS, it should be possible to just carry your phone around and be able to hook all that power up to a USB-C display (and charging the phone at the same time) and use a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, effectively turning your phone into a full-blown desktop computer...

What do you think? Would Apple pursue this? Do you think this is useful?
 
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It's certainly technically possible for Apple to implement this. Samsung already does. As do other Android manufacturers but Samsung DeX seems to be the best implementation. For many the phone processor is fast enough for the average user. Although the meager amount of RAM in iPhones would be apparent when running multiple programs. I don't see Apple doing it anytime soon as it would likely hurt Mac sales. Why sell one device when you can sell two?
 
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I’m attempting it with my iPhone XR, using screen mirroring to an external display, have Bluetooth mouse & keyboard, have Apple’s Lightning to Camera adapter for external drives (which are hooked up via a powered hub). Here’s the biggest obstacle: The iOS 14 iPhone screen viewed on external display (19”+) is much too large (except for videos, which fill the screen/display). In landscape position, a “standard view” lower case letter “e” is about 0.2” or 5.1mm tall, whereas on my iPhone screen it is about 0.06” or 1.5mm tall (as measured by digital caliper). I need to zoom way out (3x or 4x) so there is more content shown on iPhone screen. This would make it difficult or impossible to read on the iPhone, but I want to work with content viewed on an external display. I’m using my iPhone as my only computer. When away from my desk and display, I want the “standard view”, but when at my desk, I want to view much more content on my large display, thus I need to zoom out 3x or 4x. I use “screen mirroring” for the external display, which could also be a monitor or TV. Is there a solution?
 
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