Apple reportedly evaluating Apple Silicon-powered macOS on iPhone

Posted:
in General Discussion edited August 2020
A leaker reports that Apple is working on Apple Silicon prototypes with macOS running on the iPhone, which would allow a user to plug an iPhone into a dock or monitor, and have a full desktop experience.




Apple has previously denied that its Mac Catalyst project means that the Mac and iOS are coming together. However, now that the Mac will be running on Apple Silicon, a leaker says that the company is prototyping macOS on an iPhone.

iPhone with MacOS

Apple working on Linda/Dex type of prototypes
the software work on it is insane
i cant even tell you how excited they are about the whole thing

im hearing

-- Mauri QHD (@MauriQHD)


"It is ready," the leaker continues, "they keep working on prototypes on the side, and are using this time to make it even better... but have 2 options ready (will go with only 1)."

"They are just waiting for other projects to fall into place," says the leaker. "Is 95% sure it's coming, but not 100%. It depends on a lot of factors."

Asked about whether the plan was for a dual-boot device, like Boot Camp allowing macOS or Windows on Intel Macs, MauriQHD said it "is more of a hybrid, I would say, but yes, at the very least, that would be the base of it all."

There have been attempts to get desktop operating systems onto phones before. The most notable effort is Samsung's DeX which was intended to make the Galaxy S8 become a desktop Chromebook-like machine, instead of displaying the handheld version of the operating system on the display.

Also, a separate Project Linda was aimed at making the Razer Phone become an Android laptop too, and was demonstrated at CES 2018.

Leaker MauriQHD has a limited track record as it pertains to Apple, but does have a good one with other technology firms. The Twitter thread continues with more information, although at times MauriQHD changes to say that the prototype is running on an iPad rather than an iPhone.

MauriQHD references both of these in the leak and says that Apple's two prototypes follow similar ideas of having a dockable system or making the phone run macOS. Apple has previously been reported as looking at making the iPhone become an accessory for a MacBook Pro, replacing its trackpad.
patchythepirate
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 87
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    It does seem like the endgame for Apple, one hybrid OS that can be tweaked for a specific device type and its capabilities. They're not the only ones moving in that direction either. 
    lkruppmuthuk_vanalingamsuperklotonGG1jony0
  • Reply 2 of 87
    auxioauxio Posts: 2,717member
    This would be amazing.  Imagine having everything you need in a single device which fits in your pocket.  It's iOS when you're out and about and mostly need communication functionality, then it's full blown macOS when you're at your desk working.  Perfect.
    edited June 2020 spock1234patchythepiratewatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 87
    k2kwk2kw Posts: 2,075member
    auxio said:
    This would be amazing.  Imagine having everything you need in a single device which fits in your pocket.  It's iOS when you're out and about and mostly need communication functionality, then it's full blown macOS when you're at your desk working.  Perfect.
    Great copy Samsung Dex!!
    KITAmuthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 4 of 87
    KITAKITA Posts: 392member
    Throwback to the 2011 Motorola Atrix 4G. Desktop dock, laptop dock and a fingerprint sensor.

    Lot of nice ideas, but the hardware and software just wasn't ready.





    muthuk_vanalingamGG1
  • Reply 5 of 87
    auxioauxio Posts: 2,717member
    k2kw said:
    auxio said:
    This would be amazing.  Imagine having everything you need in a single device which fits in your pocket.  It's iOS when you're out and about and mostly need communication functionality, then it's full blown macOS when you're at your desk working.  Perfect.
    Great copy Samsung Dex!!
    Except that it doesn't run a joke for an OS.  I've worked with Chromebooks before and no thanks!
    seanjericthehalfbeesuperklotonBeatsStrangeDaysspock1234patchythepiratewatto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 87
    tuckerjjtuckerjj Posts: 35member
    Steve got it wrong. Tablets aren’t cars. Phones are cars, tablets are vans, PCs are trucks. (Watches are bikes?)
    seanjdigitolspock1234watto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 87
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,783member
    Because Windows Everywhere worked SOOOOO well for Microsoft
    /s
    No. Just no.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 87
    auxioauxio Posts: 2,717member

    KITA said:



    Look at all those wires!  And notice how literally the only things running there are browsers.  That's ChromeOS in a nutshell: if it doesn't run in a browser (so that Google can build a profile of everything you do), it doesn't run.
    georgie01superklotonBeatsStrangeDaysjony0spock1234patchythepiratewatto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 87
    georgie01georgie01 Posts: 436member
    It seems likely that Apple instead has an approach that is more surprising and better than the anemic and similar products currently available today. To say it has already been done is sort of like saying Apple’s iPad was already done because there were Windows tablets before it. But we’ll see!
    bageljoeyBeatschiaspock1234watto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 87
    auxioauxio Posts: 2,717member
    DAalseth said:
    Because Windows Everywhere worked SOOOOO well for Microsoft
    /s
    No. Just no.
    The problem with Windows is that Microsoft tried to shoehorn everything into a single OS and it led to a very poor mobile experience (WinMO anyone?).  Apple already has two great experiences with iOS and macOS.  So if it can seamlessly switch between the two as needed, then I think it would work well.
    bonobobsuperklotonBeatschiawatto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 87
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    auxio said:

    KITA said:



    Look at all those wires!  And notice how literally the only things running there are browsers.  That's ChromeOS in a nutshell: if it doesn't run in a browser (so that Google can build a profile of everything you do), it doesn't run.
    And all because advertisers (including Apple BTW) want to be sure that the money they spend is going to the right market. For example, no sense in presenting you with panty ads if you're a male, and besides you'd just get them in a wad anyway. :)

    BTW, just as Apple would deny any merging of iOS and macOS using a hybrid operating system, Google too denies any merging of Chrome and Android utilizing their own hybrid OS Fushia. I don't think either one of them have yet decided for certain but all signs sure point to it being an eventuality, and they're both spending engineering resources on it.

    EDIT: An article link that follows the same thinking along with the why.
    https://medium.com/@timventura/will-googles-fuschia-os-replace-android-chromium-35beb806612e
    edited June 2020 patchythepirate
  • Reply 12 of 87
    muaddibmuaddib Posts: 81member
    The problem I see is one of RAM.  iPhones have a relatively small amount of ram because of energy use, and Macs the more ram the better.
    I don't see how this is limitation is overcome.
    blastdoorrossb2SpamSandwichadbechiaGG1jony0GeorgeBMacwatto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 87
    auxioauxio Posts: 2,717member
    gatorguy said:
    auxio said:

    KITA said:



    Look at all those wires!  And notice how literally the only things running there are browsers.  That's ChromeOS in a nutshell: if it doesn't run in a browser (so that Google can build a profile of everything you do), it doesn't run.
    And all because advertisers (including Apple BTW) want to be sure that the money they spend is going to the right market. For example, no sense in presenting you with panty ads if you're a male, and besides you'd just get them in a wad anyway. :)
    I just want real apps.  I had to use Google Slides for my son's homework at the end of the school year and god it was horrible.  The text cursor was about an inch below the text selection box and I was constantly having to resize/reformat to get it where I wanted it (while struggling to click in the right spot to actually select it).  My son was literally in tears because he was so frustrated (as was I).  This is the problem when you try to build a complex app using half-baked web technologies.

    I'll gladly pay for an app which saves me time/headache because it was designed to do a few things well rather than shoehorning everything in a browser designed to do everything half-*ssed.
    edited June 2020 chiaGG1spock1234watto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 87
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    DAalseth said:
    Because Windows Everywhere worked SOOOOO well for Microsoft
    /s
    No. Just no.

    Mmmm.

    They have now got a common hardware architecture.
    They have  scaleable app framework that runs on that architecture.
    They have SwiftUI which will allow them to scale UIs with little effort.

    The reason everyone fails when they try to do this is because they try to run the same apps at different screen sizes. I think they're looking at a dual boot/hybrid setup that will use the Universal Binary packages to carry multiple versions of the same app.

    On the phone, it'll run the IOS version. When you plug it into the slot on your iMac terminal, it'll launch MacOS with the full MacOS version of the same app. The file formats are common.

    I read a tweet the other day. One of the developers at the WWDC noted that if you run an iOS app on MacOS 11, it will be automatically replaced by the full MacOS version when the developer makes it available. I think Apple is very interested in making stuff as common as possible without compromising the simplicity of iOS and the versatility of MacOS. The way to do that begins with having a common architecture that can run both.


    tommy65chiamacplusplusGG1roundaboutnowjony0patchythepiratewatto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 87
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    auxio said:
    gatorguy said:
    auxio said:

    KITA said:



    Look at all those wires!  And notice how literally the only things running there are browsers.  That's ChromeOS in a nutshell: if it doesn't run in a browser (so that Google can build a profile of everything you do), it doesn't run.
    And all because advertisers (including Apple BTW) want to be sure that the money they spend is going to the right market. For example, no sense in presenting you with panty ads if you're a male, and besides you'd just get them in a wad anyway. :)
    I just want real apps.  I had to use Google Slides for my son's homework at the end of the school year and god it was horrible.  The text cursor was about an inch below the text selection box and I was constantly having to resize/reformat to get it where I wanted it (while struggling to click in the right spot to actually select it).  My son was literally in tears because he was so frustrated (as was I).  This is the problem when you try to build a complex app using half-baked web technologies.

    I'll gladly pay for an app which saves me time/headache because it was designed to do a few things well rather than shoehorning everything in a browser designed to do everything half-*ssed.
    I kinda agree. Popup links and notifications seem to always be in the way for instance. I believe Google is trying to do too many things concurrently in Chrome and in the process making the use more difficult than it needs to be. 
    muthuk_vanalingamCheeseFreeze
  • Reply 16 of 87
    auxioauxio Posts: 2,717member
    muaddib said:
    The problem I see is one of RAM.  iPhones have a relatively small amount of ram because of energy use, and Macs the more ram the better.
    I don't see how this is limitation is overcome.
    Fast storage.  If your storage is nearly as fast as RAM, then it's not a big performance hit to swap out to disk.  Check the partitions on a modern Mac and you'll see that macOS is already doing this.


    mwhiteGG1roundaboutnowfastasleepwatto_cobra
  • Reply 17 of 87
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    muaddib said:
    The problem I see is one of RAM.  iPhones have a relatively small amount of ram because of energy use, and Macs the more ram the better.
    I don't see how this is limitation is overcome.
    By putting the memory in the terminal and using the terminal's power supply to run the phone while it's in docked mode. The phone supplies the processor, the OS and the apps. Everything is linked through a smart connector on the edge of the phone. Once connected, the whole setup runs as one integrated unit.

    roundaboutnowspock1234watto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 87
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    auxio said:
    gatorguy said:
    auxio said:

    KITA said:



    Look at all those wires!  And notice how literally the only things running there are browsers.  That's ChromeOS in a nutshell: if it doesn't run in a browser (so that Google can build a profile of everything you do), it doesn't run.
    And all because advertisers (including Apple BTW) want to be sure that the money they spend is going to the right market. For example, no sense in presenting you with panty ads if you're a male, and besides you'd just get them in a wad anyway. :)
    I just want real apps.  I had to use Google Slides for my son's homework at the end of the school year and god it was horrible.  The text cursor was about an inch below the text selection box and I was constantly having to resize/reformat to get it where I wanted it (while struggling to click in the right spot to actually select it).  My son was literally in tears because he was so frustrated (as was I).  This is the problem when you try to build a complex app using half-baked web technologies.

    I'll gladly pay for an app which saves me time/headache because it was designed to do a few things well rather than shoehorning everything in a browser designed to do everything half-*ssed.
    If they do this, it won't be half-assed.
    Beatswatto_cobra
  • Reply 19 of 87
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,275member
    muaddib said:
    The problem I see is one of RAM.  iPhones have a relatively small amount of ram because of energy use, and Macs the more ram the better.
    I don't see how this is limitation is overcome.

    Really?! Maybe a docking station that includes the extra ports needed to connect a monitor, external hard drives and other devices that also bumps up the RAM and maybe adds a graphic card.
    mattinozspock1234watto_cobra
  • Reply 20 of 87
    auxioauxio Posts: 2,717member
    gatorguy said:
    auxio said:
    I just want real apps.  I had to use Google Slides for my son's homework at the end of the school year and god it was horrible.  The text cursor was about an inch below the text selection box and I was constantly having to resize/reformat to get it where I wanted it (while struggling to click in the right spot to actually select it).  My son was literally in tears because he was so frustrated (as was I).  This is the problem when you try to build a complex app using half-baked web technologies.

    I'll gladly pay for an app which saves me time/headache because it was designed to do a few things well rather than shoehorning everything in a browser designed to do everything half-*ssed.
    I kinda agree. Popup links and notifications seem to always be in the way for instance. I believe Google is trying to do too many things concurrently in Chrome and in the process making the use more difficult than it needs to be. 
    I've gone down the same path as the Chrome engineers: I've worked on a very large, cross platform (Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS) application which allows other things to be run inside it (embedded content).  There are fundamental differences between platforms which are nearly impossible to overcome.  Rich text editing and layout being one of them (and a big one).  Then there's the whole dealing with the lowest common denominator problem where you have to worry about systems which don't have all the features you need.  Different UI paradigms, etc, etc.  This is why web apps will never work as well as native apps.  People tolerate them because they value money over time/headache (or don't even understand the tradeoff).
    edited June 2020 chiawatto_cobra
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