Android 16 beta reveals new desktop mode to turn your phone into a PC

[Skye Jacobs]

Why it matters: Samsung customers have long used DeX to run their phones in desktop mode. Google is reportedly developing a similar feature for the Pixel line, which may debut with Android 16 or 17. Although still in early development, the company has already demoed the functionality on a Pixel 8 Pro.

Google appears poised to bring a full-fledged desktop experience to Android users. The search giant recently enabled the new functionality on a Pixel 8 Pro running the Android 16 beta, offering a preview of how its desktop experience could reshape multitasking on Android devices. This upcoming feature is undergoing testing on Pixel devices and aims to transform smartphones into versatile workstations, eventually rivaling Samsung DeX.

Samsung DeX has long set the standard for turning smartphones into desktop-like workstations. It lets users connect their phone to an external monitor and interact with apps in floating windows using a keyboard and mouse. Until now, only Samsung devices have supported this feature. Android Authority notes that Google's approach closely mirrors DeX but adds an Android-centric twist.

When users activate desktop mode, the Pixel phone renders a PC-style interface onto an external display via USB-C. The new interface introduces a taskbar at the bottom, allowing users to pin favorite apps, access a full-screen app drawer reminiscent of the Windows Start Menu, and view recent applications. The familiar Android status bar sits at the top, displaying system information such as Wi-Fi, battery, and notifications. Apps open in resizable, movable windows, and users can snap them to the sides of the screen for better multitasking.

One standout feature is the ability to run multiple apps in floating windows simultaneously, with support for drag-and-drop between apps – provided the apps support this functionality. This capability significantly enhances Android's multitasking, going well beyond the limited desktop interface currently available on Pixel devices, which lacks a robust taskbar and proper window management.

Google's desktop mode builds on "desktop windowing," first introduced in Android 15 for tablets, allowing users to open multiple apps in freeform windows. The new feature brings this capability to smartphones connected to external displays. However, the functionality needs refinement, particularly in managing how peripherals interact with the phone and the external display.

Despite promising progress, this feature remains unfinished and likely won't debut in the stable release of Android 16. Instead, it may arrive in a future quarterly update or, more likely, with Android 17 next year. For now, desktop mode remains hidden behind developer options and is available only to those willing to experiment with beta software.

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Android 16 beta reveals new desktop mode to turn your phone into a PC

 

[NumberNine]

It's not a PC. It can't run x86 software.

It is a docked Android mobile device running phone apps in landscape.

 

[VariableSpike]

Looks a lot worse than samsung dex, like someone bodged a tablet view into vaguely having windows and elements needed for the ui vs having it properly setup like a desktop, and sure, it can't run desktop apps, but with just your phone and a portable display, you can use it as a quasi laptop, the samsung phones also let you use the phone as a touchpad, or you can of course bring your own mouse and keyboard, which it has some good settings for like you would have on a pc for layout etc.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I'm glad we're getting this. It's fun to play around and see how much work you can get done without needing a standalone PC.

My garage will probably get one, no active cooling is a major plus in such a dirty environment and there are tons of people getting rid of old phones....

 

[airbornex]

We’ve come full circle—first we shrank our computers into phones, now we’re stretching our phones back into computers. Now let's see if anybody uses them this way without the proper ecosystem.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

This has been a long time coming and frankly I think it would be great for "shared space" situations like office environments, libraries, conference rooms etc.

Phones and laptops have a ton of unnecessary overlap for like 95% of the population. These people do not need a phone and a laptop, they really just need a phone, a dock, and some peripherals. Their phone has more than enough processing power to write and edit a presentation or word document or whatever.

Cuts down on redundant hardware which is good for everyone.

Honestly confused why this hasn't been more of a thing, thought Apple would go this direction before anyone else...

 

[jrtt0]

It's not a PC. It can't run x86 software.

It is a docked Android mobile device running phone apps in landscape.

I agree, but, for most users, what a "PC" means is a matter of how you interact with it, rather than an instruction set.

Btw with this kind of initiative, alongside computers being built on top of ARM CPUs (Apple, Qualcomm, Mediatek/Nvidia...), it seems that the x86 chips might be a minority in a not-so-long future.

 

[koblongata]

Been using some Dex every now and then, this is really useful, but now Fold 7 will have 200MP camera so I will have to go with Samsung again

 

[JamesBlond]

Even if its free, it remains crap, stop all the telemetry and ai and maybe we can look at it...