KDE is the one large DE which didn't try to look like a phone interface. The OP erred slightly by implying that all DEs have been trying to look like phones.

KDE is the one large DE which didn't try to look like a phone interface. The OP erred slightly by implying that all DEs have been trying to look like phones. If anything, KDE4 tried to look a lot like Vista/Aero and Win7 (which IMO isn't a bad thing for Vista; that OS didn't work too great, but it was IMO the best-looking Windows UI ever). Gnome3 came out quite some time after the iPhone, and was definitely part of the trend to tabletize all UIs. Also, it wasn't just KDE that eschewed this new trend; most of the smaller Linux ones did too, plus the Gnome2 derivatives MATE & Cinnamon which have only been trying to look like Gnome2.