Sounds like _you_ want a Mac in your pocket &c., but can you name three other iPhone users who want that? Particularly ones under the age of 25, the segment that drives the mobile phone market in the US?
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Top 5 New Features Coming in iOS 18.4
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I too would like it if iOS had a desktop mode. Hell, just give me basic external display support and stage manager like we have in iPadOS and I would be happy.
Very sad state of affairs in Apple land at the moment. I just read about the new external display support features included in Android 16 beta, cool stuff. Google seems like they are actually trying to do cool stuff.. and then I come here and it’s “Hey, here are some new emojis!” Sad.
You ask the wholly wrong question. It shouldn't by why should they. The right answer is Mac OS everywhere and skin the damn thing for the bloody device.
New emojis, pausing app store downloads, features for the very few Vision Pro owners, and still no Siri that is as good as Google Assistant was 5 years ago. I love my iPhone, but the best new feature in iOS 18 and for iPhone 16 Pro was the ability to put icons and widgets where I wanted in Springboard.
Students would certainly love to be able to use any standard monitor and input devices to turn their iPhone into a little workstation, instead of having to buy and use a separate device.
Ummm... 50% of iPhone users would probably like their "laptop" in their pocket. Connect to a screen and it goes into laptop mode. Mouse/Keyboard are wireless of course, as they are now. The phone is powerful enough for MacOS. Hell, it can go into "game console mode / Apple TV Mode / Whatever."
I was dumbfounded that they weren't bright enough in Apple engineering to actually power off the screen with it goes into DisplayPort mode in iPhone 15 Pro when it came out. Like, are you guys dense and just want to overheat the damn phone and use twice the power? It would be a perfect game console for home TVs that way... quick and easy. But the product designers are blind.
Apple can't get out of their own way with obvious features.
This is actually the most exciting part for me. I’ve noticed a slight stutter in the animation—especially when sending something to the Dynamic Island and then swiping between pages. Really hoping iOS 18.4 smooths that out.
Universal back gesture? Multi windows? A keyboard with a number row? Dex-like mode? File system? So what if many won’t use these types of features, they wouldn’t be forced to, but they’d be there for others who would. So what has this trillion dollar company been doing for all these years, seriously? They are way behind. Throwing out emojis and similar trinkets is just sad and boring. Surely that can’t be the limit of their ambition ? Do they just want to gradually fade into irrelevance like blackberry or a multitude of other companies who just sat and eventually stagnated into non-existence. They might once have taken others ideas and polished them but looks like they can’t even manage that now.
That would be nice. They are basically there hardware wise as you CAN currently connect an external monitor and keyboard/mouse. But the monitor just displays a larger version of exactly what you see on your phone and of course it doesn't run Mac OS.
Yes, obviously. Many people care, myself included. An OS update is too little too late? Nonsensical.Does anyone care now
Too little too late
Bit of a generalisation there..
You might want a pocketable Mac, but not everyone does. Plenty of users are happy with iOS doing what it’s designed for: mobile use, simplicity, and strong battery life. Assuming “users want X” just because you do ignores how broad and varied the user base actually is.
Apple has been pretty clear on their product ecosystem philosophy.. maybe have a look at the new samsungs or pixels to do what you want? vote with your hard earned $$$
That would require KVM support on a monitor and very specific keyboards and mouse configuration, or you'd have to lug those devices with you anyway. I don't know about your local schools/UNIs, but mine don't have those setups.
It would also depend on the kind of student.. I wouldn't suggest an engineer or architecture student could use KVM and an iPhone alone.
If it did something like the iPad does with stage manager, and the student had Bluetooth Keyboard and Mouse, and a cable suitable for the monitor it might be worth it.. but the battery is a concern for all that as well.
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I saw a poll from Android Authority where ~33% of users said they use DeX regularly, and ~31% use it occasionally — so even among Android users who have access to a desktop mode, it’s far from universal. I agree awareness plays a role, but low usage combined with Apple’s tight ecosystem focus likely makes them see full desktop modes as not worth the development trade-offs. Not everyone wants their phone to replace a laptop, and Apple tends to optimize for the majority, not niche power users.
DisplayPort standard allows charging over video. In other words, the phone will be at full power when connected to an appropriate monitor over DP.
What I care for the most now are performance and stability improvements and bug fixes/
iOS 18 is the first time I’ve ever skipped an iOS update since iOS 3.
With each new 18.x update my decision to skip it becomes more justified.
With each new 18.x update my decision to skip it becomes more justified.
Why is the most important update not mentioned: Apple Intelligence features will finally be available in the EU. I know most of it is useless, but at least Photos Clean Up feature is something I use very often.
