Your next laptop will be like a smartphone—only bigger, more powerful and more capable. It’s a reversal of almost a decade of trends in mobile com

Why PCs Are Turning Into Giant Phones

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2021-06-20 00:30:01

Your next laptop will be like a smartphone—only bigger, more powerful and more capable. It’s a reversal of almost a decade of trends in mobile computing, a decade that saw our phones get ever faster while our laptops and other PCs felt like they just wheezed along.

For everyday tasks both at home and at work, we have long had a choice: pull out a heavy brick with a noisy fan, a pixelated display, a few hours of battery life and a tenuous connection to the internet; or reach for that instant-on, always-connected, app-stuffed supercomputer in our pockets.

Laptops survived mostly because they’re better for heavier jobs: Their screens are bigger and physical keyboards are better for productive and creative tasks. And when a global pandemic arrived, we found those traits outweighed the mobility benefits of phones and tablets, especially since we were usually on home Wi-Fi and plugged into the wall socket.

Computer sales had generally been in decline for the past decade, and those declines were expected to continue for the foreseeable future. During the pandemic, there were increases in PC sales of 50% or more a quarter, compared with the prior year, according to technology market research firm IDC. Laptop makers are seizing this sudden return to the spotlight.