Google Working On DeX-Like Desktop Mode For Android Phones

Samsung has long offered the ability for your phone (or tablet) to power a desktop OS experience when connected to an external display. Google is now working on a DeX-like desktop mode experience for Android.

With Android 14 QPR3, Google introduced DisplayPort mirroring for the Pixel 8 and later. You could mirror your phone screen on supported display or project content, like Google Slides. In Android 15 QPR1, Google introduced desktop windowing for the Pixel Tablet in developer preview.

Those two experiences are now coming together with “desktop windowing on secondary displays.” Android Authority has now enabled this developer option with the latest Android 16 beta. A Pixel (8 Pro) connected to a laptop shows the Android Taskbar with pinned and recent apps, as well as launcher access and 3-button navigation at the right.

At the top you see the time and other status bar icons. If you drag down, you get dual-column Quick Settings and notifications, just like on today’s tablets and foldables. Apps open in windows that you can resize, move around, and place side-by-side, with physical keyboard and trackpad controls. You can continue to use the phone when desktop windowing is active.

It’s unknown when any of this will launch. The bigger question is how this fits into Google’s broader approach to desktop computing. Work to have ChromeOS use more Android under-the-hood is in progress, while Google is clearly adding desktop features to Android that could open the door to proper laptops (or convertibles) running a desktop version of Android.

If the work on making a desktop Android experience is already happening, letting phones run a DeX-like experience is almost an after-thought, with these mobile devices clearly powerful enough to run everything. Some people clearly like and want DeX, but the strategy for Google seems confusing. People are arguably more familiar with the concept of buying a dedicated device (laptop) for their desktop computing needs. Introducing the ability to use their phone as their desktop, requires them to have an external display and keyboard/mouse, or an existing laptop where the native OS is — for whatever reason — not sufficient for their needs.

I do wonder if Google is introducing this underlying desktop mode support in Android primarily for Samsung’s benefit.

Meanwhile, if some party out there really believes in a future where the phone is what powers a laptop, they should build what’s basically a laptop shell with everything — screen, keyboard, trackpad, battery, and ports — but the SoC. I’d also argue that the connection between the phone and display should be wireless to be truly seamless.

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