Smartphones have all but eliminated the need for us to carry around items that used to be commonplace. The phone is now our camera, notepad, wallet and games console – and now for some Google Pixel owners, it could replace your laptop too.

As part of its latest free Android software update, Google has given all Pixel phones released since the Pixel 8 a new desktop mode. When you plug any of these devices into an external monitor via USB-C, you’ll be able to activate a mode that runs your Pixel through the monitor so you can interact with it as you would a Windows or Mac computer.

It displays a taskbar at the bottom of the screen, and all you need to do is connect a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard to your phone and you’re away.

It means you could conceivably ditch your laptop or home PC and run applications for work or play through your phone and a monitor, mouse and keyboard.

In desktop mode you can call up your app tray and open apps to run side by side. If you work in Google apps, this is a great way to get Gmail, Docs, Sheets and other apps up to tear through some tasks.

It’s also a quick and easy way to blow up YouTube on a larger screen, or play mobile games.

The notable update is part of Google’s generous March Pixel Drop update that brought several new features to Pixel phones dating back to 2021’s Pixel 6.

But the neat new desktop mode is for Pixel 8 and later, which pleasingly includes the A-series Pixels from Pixel 8a onwards, as well as Google’s Pixel Fold phones.

A similar desktop mode has been shipping with Samsung phones for years as DeX. Google even confirmed last year that it needed Samsung’s help to implement its own desktop mode on its phones, which is likely why we are finally seeing the upgrade coming to Pixels. Head to the Settings app to see if you have any software updates waiting to install.

While investing in a monitor, keyboard and mouse is necessary to make Android desktop mode work, it could prove far cheaper than shelling out for a new laptop, particularly if you only need to do basic tasks such as web browsing, email and word processing.

Google and Samsung offering flexible productivity tools like this is in contrast to Apple, who doesn’t have a desktop mode for iPhone or even allow split screen apps on iPhones.