Disagree on the causes. We're limited by mobile energy storage.
Desktops are as powerful as anyone needs - largely because you just buy the appropriate size - at least at the consumer level.
Laptops, phones? Definitely not. But the push for more isn't being limited by our performance, it's being limited by energy demands. I'm shopping for a new laptop at the moment, and my overriding requirement is to get the most WHr's of battery into a low energy configuration.
And even there, to some extent the problem is also not where you'd think - you can take a modern i5 down to something like 1.5W idle consumption. Most of the losses are switching circuits or the screen.
The issue, as you correctly state, is power consumption and there we still have quite some room for improvement.
Other than that, we also have same hybrid multi-core devices on our pockets that we have on our desks. Coupled with all the hardware sensors one can imagine.
So besides the power consumption point you rise, there is hardly anything else to improve at hardware level.
Except maybe, for things like better voice recognition experience or holographic displays a la Star Wars.
Desktops are as powerful as anyone needs - largely because you just buy the appropriate size - at least at the consumer level.
Laptops, phones? Definitely not. But the push for more isn't being limited by our performance, it's being limited by energy demands. I'm shopping for a new laptop at the moment, and my overriding requirement is to get the most WHr's of battery into a low energy configuration.
And even there, to some extent the problem is also not where you'd think - you can take a modern i5 down to something like 1.5W idle consumption. Most of the losses are switching circuits or the screen.