Google appears to be taking a page from Samsung with its upcoming Pixel 8 handset.

Reliable leaker Kamila Wojciechowska, a contributor to Android Authority, has revealed interesting details about the upcoming handsets through "sources inside Google." Both the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro will apparently support DisplayPort alternate mode via USB-C charging port via DisplayPort alternate mode, she claims.

DisplayPort alternate mode is less flexible than ThunderBolt, as Wojciechowska explains, but it shares one feature: it allows devices to output to external displays without the need for HDMI or other dedicated display ports It is to be able to output high-resolution video.

Wojciechowska's source has no "concrete information" about what Google plans to do with this, but besides simple (and not terribly useful) screen mirroring, there is one very exciting possibility: desktop mode. With a monitor, keyboard, and mouse attached, the Pixel 8 could be used as a laptop for light office work.

Of course, this is not necessarily a new idea. Motorola experimented with this concept in 2011 with the ATRIX, and Microsoft last rolled the dice in 2015 with a Windows phone with a pretty good feature called Continuum.

However, the most successful implementation to date is Samsung's Desktop Experience, or DeX for short.

Initially, DeX required a separate accessory to work on the Galaxy S8, but now devices from the Galaxy S23 to the Galaxy Tab S8 can simply be connected to a monitor to access a desktop-like experience with keyboard and mouse support with keyboard and mouse support. They can also now run wirelessly on screens that support Miracast.

There is also evidence to suggest that Google is working on a broader desktop experience for Android; in February, journalist Mishaal Rahman reported that the Android 14 beta version supports DisplayPort alternate mode, USB-C cable that supports DisplayPort alternate mode, and found that it could detect being connected to a cable.

At the time, he said that a Pixel with video output via USB-C might be "wishful thinking," but it now seems much more likely. Even if the current implementation of Android Desktop Mode is extremely "bare-bones," as he writes in a commentary on our sister site Android Central.

Since Google is using the Pixel device as a showcase for what it can do with Android, it makes sense that a fuller version would debut on the Pixel if it is indeed serious about it.

If it is indeed coming to the Pixel 8, it won't be too long before we see it in action, with an expected release this fall.