Apple’s hybridOS
Dual-booting between iOS/iPadOS and macOS in a single Apple silicon device.
It’s a future guess. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
A brief history of companies tinkering with the idea of turning a phone into a laptop and how Apple might one day release such a device.
2011
Motorola Atrix 4G running on Android 2.2, changes its interface when docking on Lapdock.
2012
Briefly highlighting Asus PadFone, basically turns a phone into a tablet. Not so much on phone turning into a laptop.
2016
HP announces Elite x3, a Windows 10 Mobile smartphone running on Qualcomm Snapdragon 820. Continuum is the phone’s defining feature, with the ability to connect to a Lap Dock, which is a laptop shell that does not have any computing power in itself but connects to the Elite x3 via USB-C or wireless connection and powers the Lap Dock, providing a desktop PC-like environment.
2017
Apple filed a patent where an iPhone or an iPad can be docked to the laptop shell.
Samsung DeX was first introduced on Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ smartphones, extend the device into a desktop-like experience by connecting a keyboard, mouse, and monitor. The name “DeX” is a contraction of “Desktop eXperience”.
2018
Razer announces a concept called Project Linda at CES 2018, similar to Apple’s patent, you docked the phone where a trackpad would usually be. But they didn't sell it as a consumer product, probably the reason might be infringing Apple’s patent or maybe there wasn’t a market for it.
2019
Microsoft announces ARM-based Windows 10 and as well as an Android phone called the Surface Duo. Is it more of a phone or a laptop?
2020
Apple launches Magic Keyboard for it’s iPad Pro, bridging the gap between laptop and tablet.
This.
Apple macOS Big Sur UI redesign for touchscreen
Someone was testing how the new macOS looks like on the iPad.
2022
Apple might not be the first company to put out new features or ideas but more often than not, they always know how to refine the idea and find the right time to release it. Probably at this point, the iPhone chip would have the ability to run macOS while docked on a shell laptop. Will it create a whole new category of “laptop”? Or it may very well never happened.
Let me know if missed any major products that fall into this category.
