Well the hope is now with Google merging ChromeOS & Android it'll evolve into a hybrid desktop/mobile OS, and we get to the point where you can finally plug your phone into a monitor, launch VSCode etc. Recent side load signing requirements could be a big hurdle though.
Apple seems to completely stuck with their macOS/iOS split, and probably will never do anything about it. Now iPadOS & macOS look and feel more similar than ever before, but it's all just facade. They should actually commit really hard on merging these OS, but they can't open up iOS, because that would threaten the 30% cut and so its simply not going to happen.
I think you’re missing a forest for the trees. Android desktop and iPadOS are the same thing. Next-gen OSes with advantages stemming from their different paradigm at the cost of control/freedom. It’s happening slowly but IMO the end game isn’t to merge macOS with iPadOS, it’s to make macOS obsolete and deprecate it once possible.
I don't disagree. I just don't think these "next-gen OSes" are going to stand in the long run. I'm optimistic that the current situation where we're buying $1000+ devices, handicapped, but perfectly capable of much more, is gonna change sooner or later. At the moment, Android desktop seems like the most likely candidate, it could see a lot of 3rd party support.