I think we’ve only scratched the surface of innovation in the long run. I’m reminded of the trajectory of technology in many of William Gibson’s books (and how many of them have predicted where we are today). Depending on consumer appetite, I think screens will eventually be a thing of the past, mostly. What we’re waiting on is sufficiently advanced power supplies, or sufficiently low power draw, for true wearable glasses with gesture controls. Current privacy laws may hinder the gesture side of it, so we may see some other forms of controls, but I have a feeling as people get used to it, and the more people actively record with dashcams and cell phones in public anyway, we may eventually see this one come to pass. Who needs a 64" monitor when you can have an entire virtual world on your eyes with as many monitors with whatever aspect ratios you prefer?
Beyond that, of course, is the next generations of Elon Musk’s chips in our heads that forgo gesture control for thought control.
I think there are several good reasons for why this is and why we most likely won’t see great improvement in this area. Primarily is the market just won’t support the cost for 3 fully separate OSes. But in essence, that’s really what we are talking about. A tablet isn’t a mobile device like a phone, but it also isn’t a desktop. Its inputs and aspect ratio, and controls should be different for its form factor. And, if we are talking about just adjusting applications in current OSes, for developing an app, it’s not always as simple as creating adjustments for larger screen sizes, or smaller screen sizes, or screens with touch, etc. So to really provide the type of UI innovation needed, the market needs to support it, and I just don’t see that happening yet. Too many businesses are tied to desktops as the solution, and too many consumers are ok with just using their phones/mobile. Surface devices were the best bet, and I imagine if MS hadn’t suddenly shifted their focus (yet again), they could have pushed businesses toward a tablet centric interface, peddling the Surface design as the true best productivity option. But MS never has had their stuff together enough to maintain focus for that long. Apple has been more consistent in that regard, but they seem content to never even look at touch for MacOS, and instead make a small adjustment to iOS and call it iPadOS to keep that side moving.
Artists.