10 ms·

Your phone is an entire computer

• bottlepalm 7mo ago
  Anyone have a theory why Apple hasn't done this yet? They release an 'iBook' which is basically a wired or even wireless lapdock for your iPhone running OSX in a partition. Seems like that would decimate the entire Windows, laptop, even desktop market in short order. Everyone with an iPhone, no longer needs their laptop/desktop. Just buy a cheap iBook and there's a good chance it'll already be better than most consumer PCs.
  • batchfile 7mo ago
    It would decimate their own business.
    • MrWiffles 7mo ago
      This. The more locked down, the less in control we are, the higher margins they command. This is why app stores exist - it has nothing to do with safety or security, and everything to do with monopolizing the distribution supply chain from soup to nuts. Don’t like it? Too bad, it’s fully locked down and cracking it is a (potentially) criminal offense, so whaddayagonnadoaboutit?!
  • efskap 7mo ago
    I think Apple is just really careful about how they segment their product line for each use case, and would never go for a "jack of all trades" solution like this.
  • MBCook 7mo ago
    That would also seriously hurt the sales of Macs. Even more so now that the Neo exists.
    • bottlepalm 7mo ago
      It would explode sales of Mac. OSX on iPhone, people wouldn't need the separate Windows laptops they're used to. OSX on iPhone is the gateway for consumers into the OSX ecosystem. And when those consumers want more powerful hardware, instead of buying a more powerful Windows laptop/desktop - they buy a Mac instead. I feel like Apple knows this as well, so I can't figure out why they haven't pulled the trigger. Anti-trust risk? lol
      • MBCook 7mo ago
        I don’t think it would be an antitrust risk. I don’t understand the argument for why allowing it would mean more Apple computer hardware sales though. Could you explain why you think that would happen?
  • alephnerd 7mo ago
    The form factor is a major difference. HNers are significantly more technical than the median consumer and are used to text and keyboard interfaces - a large portion of humanity isn't. You see this with Foundation Models as well - most have started to shift away from only concentrating on text to TTS and STT usecases. Also, DeX style monitor screen share with a Bluetooth keyboard has been supported since iOS 15. Additionally, a major portion of Apple's desktop revenue is coming from poweruser and specialist demand - IT departments bulk purchasing developer laptops, designers having their entire design workflow within the MacOS environment, and video editors heavily dependent on MacOS. Furthermore, arguments about how Apple has an incentive not to cannibalize revenue are dumb, given how open Apple is to cannibalizing revenue where PMF exists (eg. the iPad Pro versus lower tier MacBooks or the MacBook Neo versus lower tier iPads).
    • bottlepalm 7mo ago
      The entire Mac line is a teeny tiny slice of revenue compared to iPhone. Allowing OSX on iPhone would increase the utility of iPhone, leading to more sales.
      • alephnerd 7mo ago
        > Allowing OSX on iPhone would increase the utility of iPhone, leading to more sales That assumption is not necessarily true. What this implies is that there is a market of existing consumers that would not buy an iPhone because it lacks OSX support. The iPhone portion of Apple's business generates around $144B in YoY revenue in Q1FY27 [0]. Whenever an organization contemplates building a net new capability like the one you mentioned, a quick test is whether it would be able to generate and sustain at minimum the equivalent of 1% of yearly revenue. If this was a $1B revenue opportunity it would have been implemented, but it's not. Nor is it a feature that can actively or dramatically increase Apple's market share in most markets. A good proxy of such demand would have been a sudden increase in iOS users using USB-C screen share and a Bluetooth keyboard to interface with an iPhone in a desktop form factor (something which has been enabled since iOS 15), but such an increase has not happened. [0] - https://counterpointresearch.com/en/insights/apple-reaches-all-time-revenue-record-driven-by-iphones https://counterpointresearch.com/en/insights/apple-reaches-a...
  • jerf 7mo ago
    Money. The general public thinks phones and computers are fundamentally different. Heck, I remember arguing this point even on HN back when smart phones were first coming out and being generally on the losing side as people got very excited about "app stores" and such. I see no practical path to getting to the point that enough of us realize that there is simply no reason for our phones to be locked down the way they are that the companies are forced to undo it, especially with our elites pushing with all they are worth to lock things down harder. The companies take that confusion to the bank. There have been numerous attempts at making phone/laptop crossovers, where you can plug your phone into a dock and get a computer, or slide your phone into a laptop case, etc. Some of them are even still around, but they're all definitely second-class citizens. There's a variety of problems that I think they've had in the market, not least of which is the fact that the average person still sees "phones" and "computers" as fundamentally different so the product makes no sense to them, but another issue that I think has held them back is that the product inevitably work by porting the limitations of the phone into the computer, rather than porting the freedom of the computer into the phone. In the USB-C era, there is no excuse for every phone not having a mode where you can plug it into any ol' USB-C hub/dock and be able to get a desktop environment, even down to the "middle-of-the-line" phones. It would require in most cases no extra hardware. They just don't.
    • bottlepalm 7mo ago
      Money? You don't think Apple would make a killing on OSX licenses and lapdock sales if they allowed OSX on iPhone tomorrow? Mac is a tiny slice of revenue for apple. OSX on iPhone would blow it out of the water. Apple would turn the PC market upside down, taking a sizeable chunk from Windows. As there'd be no point for most people to have a separate laptop/desktop at that point. People also thought that phones needed keyboards before Apple showed them a better way. This is all on Apple to make a reality, no one else can bring general purpose computing to iPhone except them. It's their choice to make.
  • krab 7mo ago
    Why would it decimate the Windows market? From my experience, there's a strong correlation between iPhone and Mac usage. Looking at the stats, the Win:Mac ratio is 4:1 but Android:iPhone only 2:1 so it might hurt Windows. But if iPhone users are more likely to use Mac or don't use computers much already, then expanding iPhone capabilities would cannibalize Apple business.
    • bottlepalm 7mo ago
      Because then most people with an iPhone wouldn't need to buy a separate laptop/desktop. I'm sure Android as well would follow in short order (not the half hearted attempts they've made so far). Sales would plummet. Windows decimated.
    • fmajid 7mo ago
      No, the iPhone has over 50% market share in the US, macOS is nowhere near that.
  • api 7mo ago
    Other than UI and other surface differences, the fundamental distinction between a Mac and an iDevice is... what it is. A Mac is a real computer. I can run any code I want on it. I have root. An iDevice is like a game console. I can only run App Store apps (without jumping through a lot of hoops). I do not have root (without again jumping through many hoops or ugly hacks). If Apple wanted to unify the platform they have two choices. The first is to abandon the "real computer" market entirely. The second is to make iDevices real computers by unlocking them. I suspect they'd rather keep two platforms. Under the hood they both share a lot of code, so it's not two totally distinct platforms. It's more like two sets of defaults and two "skins."
    • bottlepalm 7mo ago
      MacBook Neo has in a way unified the platforms. The only difference is essentially what OS is booted up with the chip.
      • jsheard 7mo ago
        That was already the case with the M-series chips, which are shared between Macs and higher-end iPads. The Neo just extends it to the A-series as well.
        • bottlepalm 7mo ago
          Yep I know, and now using a last gen A chip, I feel they are really rubbing our faces in it. Like Apple is saying, "Nice iPhone 17 Pro w/ A19 w/ vapor cooling chip you have there; you know you run a full general purpose OS on it, but we're not gonna let you, nanananana :p"
          • medhir 7mo ago
            No exactly, Apple is playing in our faces, all while people continue to defend the “differences” of device categories and the subsequent justification of shipping iPhones and iPads with locked bootloaders.
  • mrkeen 7mo ago
    Because people like TFA pay them not to. It doesn't matter how much you hope Apple changes course - you vote with your wallet.
  • ianburrell 7mo ago
    There isn't much demand for using phone as computer. If you are at home or work, you can buy a desktop computers for cheap. If you are traveling, you need to find a monitor and keyboard. You could carry small monitor and wireless keyboard, but then you are carrying as much as laptop. People who need to work on the road get a laptop. People who need to send email get iPad and keyboard. Good example of the economics is that Macbook Neo or iPad Air are cheaper than new iPhone. iPhone should export display, but more for showing videos or presentations. My Pixel 10 has USB-C display and I haven't used it, but I have computers for all purposes. Apple should spend more effort making the iPad usable for work. It would be good candidate for USB-C display, but with iPadOS.
    • bottlepalm 7mo ago
      How can there be demand for something that doesn't exist? If Apple releases a $300 lapdock tomorrow, basically a screen, keyboard, battery, that allows using your iPhone as a normal general purpose computer with OSX - why would anyone buy a laptop/desktop?
      • ianburrell 7mo ago
        Why would anyone buy that instead of Macbook Neo for $600? Macbook doesn't need a iPhone to use. If you are doing serious work, which are the people who want a dock, then you need the power of Macbook Air or Macbook Pro. For most people, iPad or iPad Air with keyboard is a better option since you get tablet for fun and can do some light work.
    • jonahhorowitz 7mo ago
      FWIW, you can plug your iPhone into an external monitor to do a Keynote presentation. You need a USB-C (or Lightning) to HDMI dongle in most cases, but it works fine. - https://support.apple.com/guide/keynote-iphone/present-on-a-separate-display-tana4da2681/ios https://support.apple.com/guide/keynote-iphone/present-on-a-...
      • ghaff 7mo ago
        I'm always reluctant to do non-standard stuff for presentations. There's enough that can go wrong even with a direct HDMI out. I've done it in a pinch but pretty much always carry a laptop with me when I'm presenting along with local copies of my presentations. I've actually gotten a text in the middle of the night asking me if I can fill in for another speaker who forgot and are in a different country :-)
  • xp84 7mo ago
    Why would Apple want to sell a lapdock when they could instead sell you the same thing + a redundant SOC (aka, a MacBook) and then high-margin cloud services to sync all of your data between your two differently-shaped computers?
    • bottlepalm 7mo ago
      Because most people with iPhones are buying Windows computers, but give them a cheap entry lapdock into the Mac ecosystem and maybe their next more powerful system will be a Mac. Mac is a niche right now, iPhone with OSX could level the playing field.
      • xp84 7mo ago
        If Apple could bring themselves to sell a lapdock, it'd have to cost at least $500. We know this because the Magic Keyboard for iPad, just a keyboard and trackpad, is priced at $349 (and it was introduced at that price way back in 2020, so at the time, Apple believed that keyboard was worth $440 adjusted for inflation). A screen to Apple's quality standards, even a 12-13" one, cannot possibly increase that price point by less than $150. So, the Apple in our universe could not produce a lapdock, because in our universe they have a whole laptop at that price point. On second thought, the reality distortion field is real, so I suppose if they told people their new $600 lapdock was a good value even though it costs as much as the entry-level Mac, they'd still find willing buyers.
  • joemi 7mo ago
    I think there are a number of reasons why Apple specifically hasn't done this. In addition to what others have already mentioned (demand, segmentation, profitability, etc), another factor would probably be difficulty with the overall design. Part of why Apple's products are often praised for their design is that they do a few things really well and focus on those things, instead of trying to do absolutely everything. Consider the iPod, the iPhone, Apple TV, etc -- they're all pretty focused on doing certain things and Apple's really polished the experience. The Mac desktops and laptops kind of stretch this by allowing more things, but they still largely try to focus the user into certain workflows, via the plethora of apps that come standard with macOS and the vendor lock-in that they push. Making a phone that can also be a full computer goes against these design principles. Apple's closed the gap a bit in recent years by making macOS and iOS a bit more similar than they used to be, but they're still pretty different. If you're on a M1/2/3/4/etc processor laptop and you've tried using an iOS-specific app (not ones that's designed for both phone and desktop) on it, you'll see some of those differences (interfaces tuned for touch are weird with a mouse, things are sized wrong for desktop, file restrictions can be weird, keyboard input can be lacking, etc etc etc), and it's not enjoyable. Going the other direction, the first thing that pops into my head is: how in the world would the mac desktop be represented on iOS? I'm someone who keeps a lot of files on his desktop, grouped in different sections of the screen for different reasons, and I have no idea how that would be represented on a relatively tiny phone screen (at least in a way that didn't destroy my intentional groups). There are other aspects of macOS that would prove tricky to have analogs on a phone screen, too, but this reply is already getting so long that very few will read it... Now that's not to say that it's impossible. In fact it probably isn't. But there would be compromises (and those compromises would be on top of the compromises already present in iOS/macOS). To do it well, it'd be a much bigger project than most people realize. It's not just changing a few options and letting us use our phone that way. It'd be more akin to designing the first iPhone. Note that it's not just Apple who hasn't done this yet. Literally _no one_ has done it well yet. I truly hope one day Apple (or someone else, even) does it well, since that'll be a glorious day. But it'd be a huge project, so I'm not holding my breath.
  • robotresearcher 7mo ago
    A little computer board is only a fraction of the BOM of a laptop, so a 'lapdock' of equivalent quality couldn't be very much cheaper than a whole laptop. If you use cloud storage, your laptop already has all the stuff on your phone anyway.
• 2OEH8eoCRo0 7mo ago
  > I'm bothered, as I have been since the original iPad introduction 16 years ago, by the unnecessary restrictions placed by corporate powers to run third-party software and operating systems on devices we own. It's not unnecessary, they do it because they make money as gatekeeper.
  • MBCook 7mo ago
    There are other reasons. A big factor in the success of the iPad and maybe just some degree the iPhone, but especially the iPad, is that it’s “unbreakable”. All out restrictions mean it’s computer people don’t worry will suddenly stop working because they clicked to the wrong link. It won’t get a weird virus from their email. That is a serious upside for a lot of consumers.
    • AstroBen 7mo ago
      You can still have that. Make unbreakable the default, and add an "admin mode" toggle.
      • MBCook 7mo ago
        The last 25 years of Apple has made it pretty clear that’s not “the Apple way”. Yeah they could. They could do a lot of things people constantly ask about, like upgradable RAM. But there is no reason to think they will.
      • joemi 7mo ago
        As I noted here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47369155 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47369155 that wouldn't stop the people that need the protection.
    • crooked-v 7mo ago
      I feel like that same reason is why you see a lot of seriously tech-savvy people try to use iPads as laptop substitutes over and over even though they're obviously still not suitable for it for technical tasks. There's a lot of latent appeal in "okay, what if I just didn't have to worry about any of that ambient technical crap?".
• shablulman 7mo ago
  [flagged]
• hotpotatoes 7mo ago
  The problem is Mac. They've always locked things down citing safety or user experience, but it is profit and walled garden. Samsung Dex has been doing this for years. In before someone explains it's not "exactly" the same. Dex has shown this phone/computer ability in practice long before.
  • MBCook 7mo ago
    I’ve been hoping Apple would allow this for years, although it doesn’t seem like something they would do. The fact that iPadOS now has windowing seems like it would only make it work better. iPads can already do everything necessary, so why not the iPhone? Unfortunately I suspect that if this was ever going to happen, which I would’ve bet against, it’s now let’s likely. I suspect current Apple would rather sell me a Neo then let me use my phone. In other words I think the existence of the product might rule it out under current leadership. Who knows. I could be wrong. Only time will tell.
    • crooked-v 7mo ago
      If the rumored folding phone with a close-to-iPad-mini UI handles USB monitor connections the same as the iPad, that would give the basic version right there, albeit at a huge base price.
      • MBCook 7mo ago
        I hadn’t thought of that. In my mind I think Apple will say “not an iPad, you don’t get it” but the distinction (hardware UI wise) would be much much fuzzier than today.
  • kylehotchkiss 7mo ago
    It's always funny to watch hackernews slam apple for user experience decisions based off what's best for their average customer as if every person purchasing an apple device is a hackernews. It seems like the viability of running a computer from an A16 really just came to fruition. There's heat, performance, battery life, etc implications that the average consumer can't quite articulate but it matters to them. Apple's goal seemed to be to decimate the Cheap Plastic Intel Laptop space, and I think they succeeded at catching the industry with their tails between their legs.
• wds 7mo ago
  A few days ago I cracked the edge of my smartphone's screen at just the right spot to shut its display off entirely, though it still works. Using the USB-C dongle meant for my laptop, the phone pops into a desktop view which basically is the same experience as a Chromebook (for better or worse). In the meantime before its repair, I shoved my SIM card into an old flipphone I had in the tech graveyard drawer. I've actually really liked the limited flipphone experience. It's a mental breath of fresh air to not have a time/focus black hole in my pocket at all times. It made me realize that I've had a pretty bad relationship with my smartphone in terms of how much time I wasted on it. I'm considering keeping the flipphone as my primary phone. Maybe smartphones do too much.
  • WorldPeas 7mo ago
    as someone who did this for a week, it's nice until you need to install an app to check your bank statements or manage your insurance. Maybe that will get better as agents do, however
    • BLKNSLVR 7mo ago
      You don't have a laptop or desktop for those things? Whilst I may not represent the average person, I have no need to check bank statements or manage insurance immediately, so I can wait until I'm at a 'real' computer to do it more conveniently and easily and with a bigger screen and keyboard and mouse. GPs point about the 'relationship with the smart phone' seems to be pertinent. "need to install an app" to do these things only makes the point stronger.
      • zapzupnz 7mo ago
        > You don't have a laptop or desktop for those things? > Whilst I may not represent the average person, I have no need to check bank statements or manage insurance immediately I think a lot of people check to make sure how much money they have before they make some purchases, especially big ones. Or, they check with this card declined (might need to move some money from one account to another or use a different card). I teach high school and see students doing this all the time when buying food for lunch. I can't imagine it's any less prevalent amongst adults of a certain generation. I certainly need to know how much money I have at any given time when I'm shopping. Seems fairly privileged (not in a bad way) to not need to think about that.
• bronlund 7mo ago
  I think the reason is pretty obvious; what really goes on inside of our mobile phones, is not for the faint of heart.
• froobius 7mo ago
  It's very clear that the consumer is getting a worse experience than what is technically possible. There is no good phone-slash-laptop, purely because it's less profitable than locking down the devices and selling them separately.
  • fsflover 7mo ago
    > There is no good phone-slash-laptop There is: https://puri.sm/posts/my-first-year-of-librem-5-convergence/ https://puri.sm/posts/my-first-year-of-librem-5-convergence/
    • FpUser 7mo ago
      Looking at the price vs what's inside - sorry but I'll pass.
      • fsflover 7mo ago
        https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47367379 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47367379
    • deleted 7mo ago
      [deleted]
  • dist-epoch 7mo ago
    Allow me to tell you about Samsung DeX. The real problem is that there is no market for it.
    • Zambyte 7mo ago
      I used it for years with a Nexdock. I just don't really use a phone anymore (mostly Daylight computer, where attaching a keyboard and most mostly gets me what I want).
• prokajevo 7mo ago
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• tokenbar 7mo ago
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• Arcuru 7mo ago
  I seem to recall the Carriers having some pretty strict requirements on the devices that can connect to the mobile networks. Anyone know if that's (still) the case? I'm not trying to defend Apple here, I'm just curious if there would be some kind of carrier validation issues if you slapped a full desktop OS on a phone.
  • iamtedd 7mo ago
    I doubt that's the issue. Phones already have a baseband processor and OS in control of the modem. Also evidence if viability is all the Windows laptops with WWAN.
  • karteum 7mo ago
    You can connect to 4G with your root-enabled Linux PC and a USB dongle or minipci module. Carriers don't care about your application processor, they only care about the baseband. In the case of a smartphone, you can have root access and still run the Qualcomm closed blob firmware that will drive the baseband
    • astrange 7mo ago
      Carriers definitely care about the OS if it's a major OS, because bugs can take them down.
• barumrho 7mo ago
  It would be cool if iPhone could double as a laptop by just adding a monitor and keyboard/mouse and switch over to macOS.
  • fmajid 7mo ago
    Tim Apple wants you to pay thrice, once for a phone, once again for a tablet and finally one last time for a laptop.
  • hinkley 7mo ago
    That’s basically the Neo. Apple did patent a design for a dock in a monitor for a portable device to slot into. It’s gotta be getting close to expiration now. I think the trick is heat dissipation. My friend who is a macOS programmer years ago had an idea for a startup mode for iMacs where instead of just being a screen, the storage and video card would also be accessible over the thunderbolt bus, so you could plug a laptop in and have multiple video cards at your disposal.
  • 46493168 7mo ago
    Thermals and the interconnection speed would be a drag, but it would be nice to have a target display mode on a mac for iPhone
• kevin_thibedeau 7mo ago
  They're all supercomputers that would have ranked on the TOP500 in the 90s.
• bigfishrunning 7mo ago
  Is this news to anyone? of course it is! The reason that they don't let you run MacOS is absolutely arbitrary, in support of you buying another device. It also allows them to avoid the cost of supporting MacOS in another form-factor. This feels more like a facebook post that would shock my mom then a HN article...
  • rootusrootus 7mo ago
    I have long wished for a future when I could just plug my phone into a KVM and have a full desktop experience.
    • liveoneggs 7mo ago
      I don't want the phone os on a screen but the phone is powerful enough to run a full linux VM and work well-enough as a good desktop.
    • xp84 7mo ago
      Samsung DEX isn't far off from this, it's just that you're limited to Android instead of Linux, MacOS etc. But Apple will surely never allow such a thing since their main interest is in selling as many pieces of hardware to each of the Apple Faithful as possible. So they with a straight face suggest that a single human needs an iPad Pro (which easily tops $1500 with the eye-wateringly-expensive keyboard and a storage upgrade) and a laptop. Nevermind that they may have the same chip inside.
      • FpUser 7mo ago
        >"Samsung DEX isn't far off from this" I have the latest and greatest and can attest that the experience is atrocious
        • xp84 7mo ago
          I use it on a 4-5 year old Galaxy tablet. it's not perfect, but it's miles beyond the "multitasking" iPads have offered. Disclosure: I haven't tried Apple's 97th attempt to invent a new and alien alternative to the concept of windows that they currently ship on iPads.
• stronglikedan 7mo ago
  iPhone users just now discovering Samsung Dex... cute
• darenr 7mo ago
  I use the Pixel, but the point is the same. Recently Google added the "Dex" like feature where I can plug in the phone to a monitor and use it as my "entire computer" - at first I was excited, I can go to a coffee shop and leave my laptop behind, but then I looked at getting a bluetooth keyboard, mouse, monitor - with battery, and it's now a worse experience. There are monitor/battery/trackpad combination products for this exact scenario but they are nowhere near the quality of just buying a Macbook - doubly so the Neo. A laptop is more than the sum of its parts. Your phone overlaps with it on a technical level, but format is important.
  • deleted 7mo ago
    [deleted]
  • idolofdust 7mo ago
    I had a similar experience where I tried out a Z Fold 7 with a kickstand and foldable bluetooth keyboard. I was curious about the feasibility of an all-in-one computing experience; it was clunky but surprisingly somewhat productive. Then when confronted with scenarios where I had no stable surfaces I realized why the LAPtop form factor reigns supreme. Peripheral add-ons like the NexDock are very nifty, but at that point you are suffering from the same physical constraints of a phone + laptop lifestyle. All with zero of the benefits of a locally accessible, more mature, and capable OS.
    • TeMPOraL 7mo ago
      Try Z Fold 7 with a grip case (one with a rubber band on the back to fasten it to your palm). Grip cases make phones in general much more usable on the go, but with a foldable, it's arguably what makes you feel safe using it for laptop-grade work while walking or without a surface to rest against. Still not a laptop, but for me it's enough that I haven't used my private laptop since getting the Fold 7 half a year ago. Extreme portability can cover for a lot of other UX problems.
  • evanjrowley 7mo ago
    My excitement towards Dex is really about it being a stepping stone towards ChromeOS replacement. I only want that because Chromebooks getting the the Google equivelant of the Apple Fast Pair experience will lower the cost of a convenience that my professional life increasingly depends on. Important for people who have too many meetings, I guess.
• etchalon 7mo ago
  Some people insist there is no difference between a product and a capability and I honestly don't know to communicate to those people.
  • medhir 7mo ago
    My contention is that the definition of said product and its inherent capabilities is being gatekept by a corporation that would love you to buy both an iPhone and Mac, and treat them as separate. In fact, I do have both already! But I still want rights to modify my iPhone as the computer it is. The MacBook Neo is a great example of just how fungible these categories are, at least as far as the SoC that runs them is concerned. I paid for my iPhone in full, there is no reasonable justification for why I can’t repurpose it / modify it as I see fit.
  • leothetechguy 7mo ago
    Because those people reject the principles that uphold that distinction, and so do I.
    • etchalon 7mo ago
      Just out here buying furnaces and using them as grills.
• fmajid 7mo ago
  Android now has a desktop mode (as Samsung has supported for years with Dex), and it also works on degoogled variants like GrapheneOS.
• chmod775 7mo ago
  There's nothing much special about phone silicon. They generally run a bit slower than their desktop/laptop counterparts because of power and heat limitations. At the top end on a desktop power usage doubles for lower double-digit percentage gains. You can shave that off and not lose much. Laptops are a lot closer to phones than they are to desktops when it comes to power and thermal limitations*, so re-using a "phone" chip really isn't crazy. * 100W power usage on a laptop is entering silly territory, but on a desktop that's the bottom of entry-level rigs.
  • fragmede 7mo ago
    There is and there isn't. Your phone, almost certainly, with a shorter list of exceptions than not, has a locked bootloader and consequently cannot run unsigned software with full permissions without additional work. Sometimes that work is impossible to do. In terms of capabilities, sure, your phone is as capable, if not more capable than a desktop computer from a decade or two ago. The phone in my hand that I'm writing this from is 100 times more powerful than the computer I had as a kid. So that's an important point to make. However the specialness of phone silicon is the locked down bootloader and the downstream effects of that. You can point out exceptions where you can unlock the bootloader, but those are exceptions. The vast majority of phones you aren't going to get root on. So in that dimension, that's what's special about phone silicon. The signed chain-of-trust that is baked in and prevents you from running unsigned binaries with full permissions on phone silicon.
    • xyzzy_plugh 7mo ago
      You are conflating many things here. A locked bootloader does not imply you cannot run unsigned software in user space. There are also many phones that do allow you to unlock the bootloader. I have a drawer full of them. Finally, the ability to allow you to unlock your phone bootloader or to run custom firmware has nothing to do with the silicon. It's a software choice. The trusted software could most certainly decide to disable these safeguards.
      • fragmede 7mo ago
• hinkley 7mo ago
  Isn’t my Apple Watch faster than a Cray 1?
• omegadynamics 7mo ago
  Wow everything computer
• ghaff 7mo ago
  Microsoft has been SO successful with trying to converge devices </s> I'll agree that Apple has business reasons for keeping device classes separate. But I also think that keeping at least phones and laptops separate makes a lot of sense. I CAN use my phone as a full computer, but having done so traveling, it's not the best experience.
• zahirbmirza 7mo ago
  The reason the iPhone is so successful is because Apple don't let us use it as a "entire" computer. I am just glad, that we can still run a proper OS on a proper computer. If they made a modified iPad OS for their baby laptop it could have been an ominous sign.
  • PaulHoule 7mo ago
    I remember the period of 1998-2008 or so when Windows seemed to be in absolute crisis because the average Windows user was not qualified to be using a computer connected to the internet. I'd go visit my family in New England (more than one group) and they'd have a 640x480 screen and be doing all their web browsing through 70 vertical pixels because they'd installed 30 toolbars -- and they thought there was nothing wrong with this! The world was reeling from a cyber war between two German teens who were trying to outdo each other with viral "love letter" programs because people would just click on... anything! Plenty of us were looking for some platform, any platform, that would deliver us from that nightmare. It wasn't going to be the Sun Ray, it wasn't going to be Linux (talk about frying pan to the fire), it was going to be the iPhone.
    • deleted 7mo ago
      [deleted]
  • xyzsparetimexyz 7mo ago
    That's nonsense. Just have a way to unlock the OS like how getting developer tools work on android.
• phpdave11 7mo ago
  The original iPhone ran OS X: https://youtu.be/x7qPAY9JqE4?t=522 https://youtu.be/x7qPAY9JqE4?t=522
  • PaulHoule 7mo ago
    It still does, they just call it iOS.
• epistasis 7mo ago
  Apple's latest monitor is more powerful than the NEO, it has: * A19 Pro CPU (the NEO only has the A18 Pro) * 12GB of RAM (the NEO only has 8GB of RAM) * 128GB of NAND storage for iOS (ok this is less than the NEO) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Studio_Display#Technical_specifications https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Studio_Display#Technical...
  • deleted 7mo ago
    [deleted]
  • elAhmo 7mo ago
    You didn't mention the part that it costs five times as much.
    • ThePowerOfFuet 7mo ago
      But it's not even supposed to be a "computer".
  • haritha-j 7mo ago
    I'm surprised more people aren't talking about it. Like what do you mean you put an entire computer inside the monitor just to run the webcam? And at the very least, couldn't you have put in the A18 pro that you put in the neo? Did you really need more RAM and compute than the entire Neo uses to be a whole computer to drive a single webcam? In theory that thing could turn into iMac.
• bluedino 7mo ago
  I'm still waiting for a display that I can simply dock my iPhone into, and use it exactly like an iMac. Ideally it would be a 40-50 inch 4/5K screen that doubles as a desk of some sorts, but I'll take the monitor/iMac form factor.
  • szundi 7mo ago
    [dead]
• purplehat_ 7mo ago
  I really don't understand the argument here. That the product is locked down by design is a feature, not a limitation. Yes, this has the side effect of making them more money and allowing a walled garden to form, but given that the vast majority of users wouldn't do anything different with their phones if a shell was present, this is in my opinion not that large of an effect. The snide around "clicking on links is dangerous" and locking down the bootloader is unwarranted, because for most people a phone is not a toy (or at least, not just a toy) - it has their communications history, their bank information, their passwords, any many more. And it's really easy to steal people's phones on the subway. This isn't about freedom of computing, this is about the fact that an iPhone in BFU is nearly as secure as a GrapheneOS phone. There are many problems with Apple software. It's buggy, uses proprietary formats that you can't export, and interoperable with open standards. It's bad, and is the primary reason why I won't buy another iPhone, but Macs have that same problem. On the other hand, being cryptographically locked-down is an optional feature. If you don't like it, buy a computer without that feature. It's harmful to us, to tinkerers and people who want to see how things work, but the average person does not care at all and just wants to be able to open LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs without having their 401k get drained.
  • throwaway27448 7mo ago
    I understood this stance more 10 years ago, but now we have many layers of fairly well documented exploit tactics and none of them rely on the app store. However forcing users to use an app store was supposed to benefit us has clearly failed. And, somehow, the indignity of being forced into paying apple a 30% tax for a market they wholly own never comes up alongside other paternalistic arguments....
    • purplehat_ 7mo ago
      Can you elaborate on "fairly well documented exploit tactics"? My impression is that most of these are either social engineering, for which we need to hire better designers, or complicated chains of hard-to-find primitives only accessible to state actors. There's definitely problems but the solution isn't to make the iPhone a general purpose computer. We definitely need to defend the existence of general purpose computing at a time where regulation is likely to begin encroaching on it, but the promise of the App Store is "pay a 30% tax and any app you download here will be safe." In my mind, at least, that's the promise, and perhaps one solution to the situation would be to erect consequences to breaking that promise.
• jesperwe 7mo ago
  This is sooo true. I have multiple computing ideas that I want to do just for fun but I am not doing because each requires buying a mini-pc, sometimes with a screen too, and put Linux + my app on it. At the same time I have multiple old phones laying around, Pixels, iPhones, Galaxy that are out of date, have cracked screens or worn out batteries. Each one of these old phones have same or more computing power than a $300 mini-pc, but I can't use them because I can't just ssh into them and install an app... Sad, really.
  • federiconafria 7mo ago
    Same, the computing capacity and redundancy you could achieve with your spare devices...
  • tomComb 7mo ago
    The pixels all ship with unlocked bootloaders.
    • droidjj 7mo ago
      I recently turned my unused Google Pixel 8 into a server for my personal site and various side projects. It's super satisfying to spin things up in a couple hours, point a cloudflare tunnel at it, and share it with the world.
      • BLKNSLVR 7mo ago
        Do you have a write up of the software you used to do this? Was it just using Android apps or did you flash GrapheneOS or PostmarketOS onto it first? Is it permanently plugged into power (risking spicy pillow scenarios)?
    • microtonal 7mo ago
      Just nitpicking: unlockable bootloaders. The bootloader is locked by default. But you can unlock it without needing Google. Additionally, Pixels support a Linux VM and has a desktop mode (I'm running GrapheneOS, it may still be that these features have to be enabled through the developer settings).
• fixxation92 7mo ago
  Why not just get a Linux phone running Ubuntu Touch or postmarketOS. You'd have full root access, sideloading etc and none of that corporate control, likely for half the price of an iPHone. Sure you'd lose all the Apple look/feel but at least you can do what you want with the phone.
  • kumibrr 7mo ago
    I think the author goes more towards repurposing the device after its EoL.
• noemit 7mo ago
  Progressive Web Apps Exist. You can download any app. And build them too. I build my own apps that send me notifications from my AI Buddy :) Try saving my side project to your home screen : Habit.am - works really nicely once you're logged in.
  • endemic 7mo ago
    I built a few native iPhone apps 15 years ago, but these days do my tinkering in web tech and "Save to Homescreen." Probably couldn't do this if I wanted functionality like photo/video editing or heavy 3D, but for my relatively simple use case, Webkit is fine. This has the benefit of completely bypassing the App Store, and lets me share apps by just linking to them.
• piekvorst 7mo ago
  > As a US citizen, I must go through the Apple-approved App Store to download / install third-party software. Smells like freedom. If you’re a U.S. citizen, it’s worth studying what this country’s foundational freedom means specifically, why and why not something else, such as consumer rights.
• rcarmo 7mo ago
  The fun thing for me is that we are now having the same argument about iPhones that we've always had about iPads. For me, the iPad would have died if the Neo had a 12" screen. Only the iPad mini remains a useful form factor.
• kumibrr 7mo ago
  Many people here says that it's locked up by design, and while I agree, we could have an alternative firmware (not iOS or even GUI) that gives full control and complete access through ssh and repurpose it as we want. I have a pile of iphones without battery sitting in a drawer and It would be a really cheap way to run fun stuff. The only thing that could be worrying is device theft, but a simple CLI tool for the initial device registration after firmware flash might do it.
• cheschire 7mo ago
  I was talking with someone solidly in Gen X that described their desire to write out longer form documents by hand on paper rather than typing them up. The process of typing helped them work through the content better than typing. In an analogous way, I feel like I'm in that part of the millennial generation that is more comfortable doing things on a PC than on a phone. Sure I can informally browse airline tickets and cars on my phone, or upload some docs for my , but when things get serious, I'm switching to a PC to complete it. There's something about doing things on a phone that just does not feel... robust? Maybe I am just too accustomed to the phone experience being minimal, or minimized in some way compared to the desktop experience.
  • Hoodedcrow 7mo ago
    I don't think it's generational at all, doing things on a phone is pretty objectively less comfortable.
    • Rohansi 7mo ago
      It's generational in the sense that younger generations are far more accustomed to using phones than computers. They might not even be exposed to a computer until they need to use one for school. It's objectively less comfortable for them to use a computer when they never (or barely) used a mouse, physical keyboard, or any of that software before. You can even see the same with games. All these kids growing up playing games on their iPads are really good at using those crappy touchscreen controls to play. Do you think they'd find using a physical controller comfortable? Maybe after a lot of practice, but why switch if you're already good at using the touch controls?
      • Hoodedcrow 7mo ago
        If true, then it's just unfamiliarity, not comfort. A bigger screen and bigger buttons are a pretty objective upgrade. "Why switch if you're already good at using touch controls" - because you assume it could be better? It not obstructing vision and being more precise is a good enough argument to try it out. Although personally still not used to controllers. I mostly play FPS so that's only KB+M.
• 827a 7mo ago
  Maybe I'm alone in this camp, but I really value the idea that my phone is an ultra-stable bedrock experience that, sure, I have to sacrifice some freedoms on but ultimately they're not exactly freedoms I care to express on a 5.8" display whose more critical purpose is things like "my car keys", "my door keys", "maintaining contact with family" etc. Versus, my linux desktop feels like its always in a state of nearly falling apart, and that's what makes it fun. I'm constantly pushing it to the edge, installing 550gb LLMs, four different package managers, right now its got a totally dissected USB cable coming out the front that's attached to a small circuit board for some project, all that's ok because that's what I want out of it. I don't want that out of my phone. I want my phone to ALWAYS turn on and ALWAYS be able to get EVERY text or phone call that's sent to me. I think anyone who has devoted their life to computing, in all its forms, over the past 20 years should agree: There doesn't exist an operating system that I feel adequately does all of that under one roof. The closest is Android. And that's what I don't get out of posts like this: Android does exist. What do you want out of Android that Google/etc are keeping from you? Samsung has Dex. It kinda sucks. Google allows free-range application installations (and fortunately that recent effort to block it is dead); that's great. I guess there's no real/root UNIX terminal? Bro, I struggle to envision a world where any device I have that has a root shell is also one that I don't inevitably fuck up, even if only temporarily, its ability to receive phone calls from my doctor about the results of a colonoscopy. The bigger problem that I see right now is that, at least from the perspective of the iPhone: Apple is dropping the ball on their stewardship of this bedrock experience.
  • fragmede 7mo ago
    It depends on how AI-pilled you are. Linux is fucking awesome and really easy to use now because AI has read all of the Internet posts ever about how to use Linux, so you can just fire up Claude code and tell it to fix your python or docker or whatever. 2026 is gonna be the year of Linux on the desku, powered by AI, if people manage to get over themselves.
• paxys 7mo ago
  Desktop computers being as open as they are is an anomaly. It only came to be because the systems originated from research labs and hacker cultures rather than rent-seeking corporations. And even though corporations (like IBM and Microsoft) did push them, there was a lot more emphasis on business rather than consumer use at the time. Vendors keep them open today only because there is a historical exception, but make no mistake if the laptop computer was first introduced to the masses in 2008 you would be downloading apps through official stores and paying a 30% fee on all transactions and would only be able to do a tiny fraction of what is possible on them today. To me the surprise isn't that the phone is locked down, but that Apple allows MacBook Neo to do so much. Just look at its iPad counterpart.
• danielEM 7mo ago
  Why would you allow your phone to be a computer if you can sell a computer AND a phone? Allowing "random" OS to be installed on your phone would mean loosing control over your phone (including spying, gathering statistical data to influence major decisions, ability to paralyze communication of your country etc etc) Android phones are nothing but linux phones and video output (DP over USB-C, earlier MHL) is for many years already included in many phones. I would love to carry one device with everything on it. I would be very happy if that device was like a laptop with detachable core, that acts as phone.
• hybrid_study 7mo ago
  The argument here is valid, if I read this correctly. Why can’t Apple simply allow your iPhone SIMPLY be just a transportable PC, that you can connect a keyboard, mouse, and monitor and do anything else you can do with Echo or any Apple computer? [EDIT]Provided that some functionalities (the phone) be walled off for security.
  • tracerbulletx 7mo ago
    Because they want to segment the market and sell you both?
• WorldPeas 7mo ago
  I'm glad they've made a more affordable and repairable laptop but I can't help but notice (in addition to what the author's said) they can put a cell phone into a laptop's body, but not a cell modem into a laptop. If the macbook pro max had a cell model that would go like hotcakes
• atomics423 7mo ago
  I wish I could use my iPhone with a broken display as a MAC. I was going to fix it, but it cost me $400 to replace it, so it's lying useless.
  • phpdave11 7mo ago
    This looked interesting but the workaround might have been patched by Apple in newer iOS versions: https://www.reddit.com/r/iphone/comments/1p3e2bf/my_hacked_iphone_running_ipados_and_running_a/ https://www.reddit.com/r/iphone/comments/1p3e2bf/my_hacked_i...
• imranq 7mo ago
  Okay so the OP is saying that since Macbook Neo has the same hardware as iphone, but not locked down, so why is iphone locked down. They say its because of the app store profits. Sure App store is not to be understated, but I'd add our phones include way way more personal information than a laptop like NFC for credit cards, personal photos, and all biometric and contact information. Not to mention cellular network connection and generally forms as a soft form of identity. None of these apply to a laptop. So form factor does matter. BUT even if we unlocked the iPhone, the desire for 'MacOS on iPhone' is actually the wrong thing to ask for. Pete Steinberger had in this interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcwK1Uuwc0U&t=1182 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcwK1Uuwc0U&t=1182) that UI is basically the wrong paradigm in a world where agents should do tasks for us in milliseconds. We should be able run any local services from our phone like grabbing Good news is we already have this via terminal apps in Android. Now what's left is the ability for agents to run on your device and basically accomplish tasks for you
  • medhir 7mo ago
    Perhaps it is the way I framed the article, but the core of my argument is not “MacOS on iPhone”. Yes, I do personally desire that as a niche thing, but the broader point is the nature of a locked bootloader that prevents any third-party software from being loaded / installed without getting an approval from Apple. Whether the desire is third party apps on iOS outside of Apple-vetted channels, or entirely new operating systems like Linux or MacOS, I’m mainly arguing I should have the right to modify the software however I’d like as the device owner.
  • Yujf 7mo ago
    My laptop has all my contacts, calendar, access to all my photos and is regularly used for online banking. It does not have cellular but I could buy one that does. So your list applies to a laptop just the same.
• ifh-hn 7mo ago
  This reads like Stockholm syndrome, like there's no other option but being held prisoner by apple.
  • beeflet 7mo ago
    Fabrication of microchips is based on massive economies of scale. Thanks to apple, the majority of top-of-the-line microchips are going into locked-down computers. What happens when Apple or similar companies control 90% of the market, and you are paying exorbitant prices for crappy microchips in exchange for the privilege of running user-controlled software? A decade or two ago, Intel introduced the Intel Management Engine to new computer processors. Their competitors followed suit. The market has stopped making products without these trusted computing "features" a long time ago. Eventually, you stop being able to choose. These are the consequences of a computer market led by consumers that don't understand computers. The invisible hand is legally blind.
• ivanstepanovftw 7mo ago
  Can it run OpenClaw?
• comboy 7mo ago
  Your sim card is an entire computer.
  • fragmede 7mo ago
    It runs Java!
• JellyPlan 7mo ago
  I would love to have more control over my watch. I can't sort by recent apps or have a custom watch face? Really?
• mvrckhckr 7mo ago
  A business has the right to set the rules by which it is willing to contract with you. You don’t have to buy their product or service. Trade only works well by mutual consent.
• wolvoleo 7mo ago
  > Now that I know my iPhone has the capacity to run MacOS, I would very much like to do so. I’d love to consider the possibility of switching to a less intrusive phone and repurposing this iPhone into a web server. Perhaps that seems silly, but it’s really not. I’ve already paid for the device, it's clearly a full blown computer, and why should I not be able to modify it as I see fit? I kinda do that with Samsung DeX. You plug it into a USB-C dock and it basically turns the phone into a computer. With Android apps running in little windows (not MS windows). It's amazingly useful, it's a bit like Microsoft's old convergence idea but it actually works. I use it at work when I forgot to put my laptop in my bag (at home it's hidden in a dock behind my screen so it happens from time to time). I can work a whole day with meetings, doing some MS Office work etc. And if I need real Windows I can connect to a VDI. I could technically work like that every time I go to the office, the only reason I don't is some AD admin work that is not allowed in a VDI. It works technically but it's an internal rule thing. I also use it on the go with an Xreal Air and a foldable keyboard. I have a whole computer with me for the weight and bulk of less than an iPad <3 It's awesome. Apple could easily do similar, however their do really thrive by selling as many devices as possible so I doubt they would do it.
  • TheRoque 7mo ago
    I also bought a flagship iphone with the idea that maybe someday it could be used for work (S25+), first of all I was disappointed that the Snapdragon chips don't actually support the new Android Terminal feature. Anyways there is Tmux, but if I wanted to do actual work, like with my stack: nodejs, docker container (with a postgres, a redis)... I am not sure it would work. Haven't done it so far but I'd be curious of other's experiences. Also an Xreal and a foldable keyboard and you can just work anywhere with a chair and a desk I also wanna try running some windows game on it, apparently it's working-ish at and Valve might improve that part of the ecosystem too I hope that in the future, buying 2 devices will not be required and instead just buying one powerful one + optional peripherals will be ok.
    • wolvoleo 7mo ago
      Yes Android terminal is a bit of a miss, I agree. You could find an S26+ exynos perhaps. Personally I prefer tmux anyway. I'm not a dev but if I do develop something we have to use a remote login box anyway, our workstations are completely locked down. For me a webbrowser, Android apps like office and teams, obsidian and a few others and tmux are enough. It's not a complete workstation replacement but even at home I have way more than one computer. My daily driver for web stuff, a powerful pc for gaming and 3D design, an old LTSC box for microcontrollers and several others.
• modeless 7mo ago
  If you want to control the software that runs on your phone, you can. You have to choose with your wallet, and buy a phone that gives you that freedom, such as the Pixel. Buying a locked down iPhone and then complaining about it is ineffective. Wallets speak louder than words to a corporation.
  • deleted 7mo ago
    [deleted]
• tibbon 7mo ago
  This feels a bit like when my friend Colin put out a challenge for people to get Windows XP running on the then-new Intel Macs. I love this idea. I'd love a tiny full computer that I could dock onto other hardware and just carry around. https://www.crn.com/news/channel-programs/183700272/intel-mac-boots-windows-xp https://www.crn.com/news/channel-programs/183700272/intel-ma...
  • tosapple 7mo ago
    [dead]
• hoherd 7mo ago
  > On the MacBook Neo, I can even opt to not use MacOS at all and instead install Asahi Linux if I so choose Wait, does Asahi even run in this thing, or is that unfounded speculation?
  • medhir 7mo ago
    It’s definitely speculation. Not sure it’s unfounded, the project has built some level of support for all other Apple Silicon Macs: https://asahilinux.org/docs/platform/feature-support/overview/ https://asahilinux.org/docs/platform/feature-support/overvie...
• novaray 7mo ago
  > On the MacBook Neo, I can even opt to not use MacOS at all and instead install Asahi Linux if I so choose (assuming Apple continues to allow custom kernel booting as it has in M-series Macs). Is this true? Does Asahi support any A series chip (or the A18 Pro specifically)?
• aaronharding 7mo ago
  Indeed it's a marvel, it's not very capable though
• Zak 7mo ago
  I'm not convinced the author cares very much about this. He bought an iPhone. Based on his other blog posts, he knew what he was buying and what the alternatives are. An Android phone, even with a stock OS would get him more of the capabilities one would expect from a desktop PC, but he chose an iPhone. Some Android phones let the user unlock the bootloader easily and gain root, but he chose an iPhone. With an unlocked bootloader and a well-supported device, it's possible to install a third-party Android distribution with even more freedom, but he chose an iPhone. Maybe he likes the iOS UX or app selection better, but if that's the deciding factor then I don't think using the phone as a Real Computer (tm) is really all that important to him.
  • Terretta 7mo ago
    But you know it's important because of the italics. As long as it's understood as an opinion piece it's tolerable despite – as you note – the “revealed preference”. ## Appliance Computing: Take "consoles" for instance. I got tired of building gaming PCs, and after another long day of making computers work, enjoy turning on an Xbox Series X and just doing what the box is there for, much as I appreciate the glass slab in my pocket just doing what it is there for, every single time, without fail, for nearly 2 decades now. I enjoy a TRMNL (https://trmnl.com/ https://trmnl.com/) or Arduino as much as the next person, but don't need my PDA-phone to be a general purpose computing device. ## Mobile Computing: On the contrary, for both business office work and content creation, and leisure travel logistics and media creation, an iPad Pro with keyboard and trackpad would generally be preferable to a Macbook Pro or Air or Neo if people spent the couple weeks necessary to get used to the different computing paradigm. Once that sinks in, you may find carrying an iPhone, folding bluetooth keyboard with multi-touch pad, and a Switch 2 USB-C + PowerDelivery + HDMI cable means you can field work on any 4K hotel TV or AirBnB monitor: Like this: https://cabletimetech.com/products/4k60hz-usb-c-to-hdmi-cable-mini-dock-with-pd100w-for-nintendo-switch https://cabletimetech.com/products/4k60hz-usb-c-to-hdmi-cabl... With this: https://www.amazon.com/KUNSI-Foldable-Bluetooth-Rechargeable-Laptop-Space/dp/B0F4DFF5RQ https://www.amazon.com/KUNSI-Foldable-Bluetooth-Rechargeable... But that's better suited for media. iPad Pro + 5G chip + keyboard w/ trackpad is your dual monitor work bet w/ this same cable. Btw, the point of this particular cable is that power is probably near the TV where the HDMI end goes, with the USB-C where you and your phone or iPad are.
• chr15m 7mo ago
  When you've had enough, vote with your wallet and come join us in the free world.
• chris_money202 7mo ago
  Microsoft did this over a decade ago with Windows Phone and no one was interested. Seems like the way things are going is VMs, your phone running iOS can just be a jump box to a Mac VM, no need to dual boot an operating system, no need to lose the security iOS provides. I would rather Apple make software that just lets me tailscale like RDP to my Mac mini on my desk from anywhere using my phone, keyboard, mouse.
  • odo1242 7mo ago
    Windows Phone couldn't run the majority of desktop Windows apps (those developed with the "Win32" API). They developed an entirely separate API for Windows Phone apps and it was similarly locked down as iOS/Android.
    • chris_money202 7mo ago
      True although that decision was likely due to windows architecture limitations at the time. Windows was still deeply coupled with x86_64 and is still not great with ARM today.
• diebillionaires 7mo ago
  I'm just surprised people hadn't realized earlier that these SOCs were capable of more than Apple had let on. They're incredibly capable, but profits and capitalism are the problem as always.
• erelong 7mo ago
  For me this has two takeaways: One, I avoid Apple products as they are locked down and overpriced The other, that it's probably worthwhile to push for apple to open these products up more - especially would be nice if more old hardware could be "opened" to reuse and avoid them being e-waste
• walterburns 7mo ago
  I don't understand why the author bought an iPhone. That's the deal - you do things Apple's way in exchange for not having to figure out how you'll do them. For most people this is a massive convenience, and that's why they pay so much for Apple products (and why I don't).
• andai 7mo ago
  I have a bit of experience with using a desktop OS on a smartphone. In fact, you can try it very easily yourself! I used TeamViewer. Of course, it runs on a separate device, but it gives us an idea of what it would be like to have it there natively. I used this to make some music in FL Studio on my phone. Well, on my laptop, which I had set up in the office. So I controlled it via my phone. I feel like mobile versions of stuff is just gimped versions of the real thing. I would almost go so far as to say that I am more productive when using a desktop interface on a smartphone (than the smartphone equivalent of the same software), despite the ergonomic awkwardness.
• anonzzzies 7mo ago
  Only like 6-7 years ago, I spent working (so this is about commercial work, not play/free time) about 90% of the day on my macbook and 10% on my phone. Then I moved to 80% on my phone with xreal glasses, 10% without and 10% on my macbook. Now it's 90% on my phone without xreal and 10% with. For the same work. AI made that possible because my work (development) went from mostly typing and debugging to basically only reading code and mumbling prompts into my ear buds. I prefer this life a lot more. But this future is already there, also for iphone users although I don't really care: my driver is Android. I WOULD prefer Linux or an open android (my next phone will need Lineage or e/os or something as everything is moving the wrong direction).
• tonyoconnell 7mo ago
  why not just use https://getutm.app/ https://getutm.app/ ?
• thefz 7mo ago
  > On my iPhone, there is no such ability. As a US citizen, I must go through the Apple-approved App Store to download / install third-party software. Smells like freedom. That's the effect of a complete lack of antitrust. In the US corporations can do the fuck they want
• tantricked 7mo ago
  This reminds me of the days when I used to install Arch on a rooted Motorola.
• gracieabrams 7mo ago
  [dead]