Google could finally rival Samsung with its own desktop mode support, and the first phones to offer it will be the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. This information comes from Android Authority, and was grabbed from an internal source at Google.
The Pixel 8 could finally present Google’s own desktop mode
That source didn’t exactly provide more details on the feature, though. The Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro will basically offer support for USB DisplayPort Alternate mode. That should allow them to connect to an external monitor via USB-C to output video.
A hidden desktop mode was found in Android 13 QPR1, and more changes were rolled out via Android 14 builds. So Google could finally be ready to rival Samsung’s DeX mode with its upcoming phones.
DeX has been around for quite some time now, and Samsung did improve it quite a bit since its inception. Will Google be able to offer a worthy rival from the get-go? Well, it seems like we’ll find out later this year.
Do note that with desktop mode, should it be supported, the Pixel 8 will not mirror your home screen on an external display, but will offer an alternate software layout on that external display.
If Google ends up offering it, you’ll likely get a similar layout to the one DeX is offering
You’ll get a desktop layout likely similar to the one that DeX is offering. A taskbar will likely be included at the bottom, and this mode should allow you to be more productive, if you need to be, especially if you have a keyboard and a mouse around.
To be quite honest, we are a bit worried. The Tensor and Tensor G2 were not exactly the best when it comes to power efficiency or thermals, so we do hope that the Tensor G3 will be a huge improvement.
Running a desktop mode is rather resource-heavy, and if your phone is constantly getting too hot from it, utilizing something like that is pointless. We’ll see if Google has a solution for that, or will it skip desktop mode this time around after all.