Are smartphones making computers obsolete?

The majority of people currently use a mobile device of some sort whether it be the latest smartphone or tablet or an older model with less sophisticated features. Even children as young as four sometimes have access to this technology using it to play games or watch videos. These devices which we use daily, the majority of which are smartphones, are able to access the internet, send and receive emails and transfer money between accounts through internet banking but can a smartphone ever replace a computer or laptop and what are the disadvantages to using the device for these multipurpose applications?

There are some people that insist that now a days, for most people, there is no requirement to have a wired or wireless keyboard attached to a laptop or computer as It is possible to do a multitude of tasks such as send emails, view websites, do banking and order goods to be delivered directly to the door on a smartphone so why do we need to use a much bulkier laptop to do the same things? In reality, for the vast majority of tasks that the average person needs to do a smartphone is completely adequate so it is only if you find it necessary or want to do a large quantity of writing that it becomes problematic on a smartphone or tablet screen and obviously for people who may have some deterioration of their eyesight it could sometimes cause eyestrain as they try to peer at a small handheld device screen.

Another disadvantage of using a smartphone rather than a laptop is when you are working on enhancing pictures that you have taken by using photograph editing software. For simple snaps, the basic editing software that is installed on most smartphones is sufficient but using a laptop is far superior to a smartphone if you want professional looking photographs.

The sometimes very small size of the smartphone screen can be an issue when reading official documents and utility bills as some websites do not have the display optimised for mobile use resulting in the text appearing disjointed and misaligned causing many people who are unhappy with reading from the screen to print out letters and bills using paper and ink unnecessarily.

So, will our smartphones make our computers obsolete in the future? It is unlikely especially amongst older adults unless solutions can be found to address the problems discussed.