fucking hell are we only now having this discussion? when GitHub Copilot first released, a few years ago, my first reaction was: that's a keylogger! it sends everything in your editor to Microsoft, isn't anyone worried about that at all?
Yes, but also no: surface area is a proxy for compute power, because it's a proxy to heat dissipation. Phones are also only passively air-cooled — which is like the absolute worst cooling mechanism, too¹. So yes, processors do get better, but watts are watts, and there's a hard upper limit to how many watts a phone can consume, and you have to get better within that limit.
Or … IDK, maybe you don't. Recent Android phones are now capable of prompting the user to actively cool them off because the ~bloat~ software is consuming too much compute/power. What basically translates to "help I'm dying" is an amusing message, but also a depressing state of affairs.
¹compare to a laptop, or worse for the phone, a desktop. The comparative cooling surface area is multiple times larger. And both have fans, desktops can be liquid cooled — it's not mere chance that they're faster, and phone form factor literally presents challenges. Even with an infinite battery, or a USB capable, you can't dissipate 60 W into a human hand.
I agree but I was replying to the comment about computers specifically, meaning desktop and laptop form factors rather than mobile phones, especially when I say "near future"
