Dell To Permit Apple Users To Control iPhone From Laptop

Dell Technologies is seeking to broaden the appeal of its laptop portfolio for Apple iPhone users, with an expansion of Dell Mobile Connect.

The Round Rock, Texas-based computer maker on Thursday said the software will allow users to mirror their Apple iPhone screen on their Dell laptops.

The company made the admission in a corporate announcement about new laptops, PCs, displays, AI and premium designs, ahead of the upcoming CES 2020 trade show in Las Vegas, from 7 to 10 January.

Mobile Connect

Dell said it is intending to roll out the update to its Mobile Connect software in the coming months. It had added similar functionality for Android handsets back in 2018.

“Since its 2018 launch, Dell Mobile Connect has helped more than one million users avoid splitting attention between their PC and smartphone,” said the firm.

“This spring Dell Mobile Connect will expand its wireless transfer and app mirroring capabilities beyond Android phones and bring these functions to iOS phone users,” the PC maker said.

Dell said that users of its users of the XPS, Inspiron, Vostro, Alienware and G Series portfolio (running Windows 10), who also have iPhones, will be able to directly access their favourite mobile apps, and take advantage of drag-and-drop file transfer and content mirroring straight from their Dell PC.

Until this upgrade, iPhone users of Dell Mobile Connect had only able to get notifications and send texts.

Apple challenge?

The move is noteworthy as Dell is the world’s third largest PC maker, and some will see the move as a challenge to Apple.

This is because for years Apple has naturally offered deep integration between its iPhone handsets and its Mac computers.

But now Dell is not only seeking to challenge Apple on the design front (with slim laptops such as the Dell XPS 13), it is also hoping to lure those iPhone users who still are still running Windows 10, to choose their laptops.

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