HP's Elite x3, a 6" Windows 10 Mobile phablet, ships August 29 for $699, $799 with Desk Dock, which lets you use UWP apps on a monitor with keyboard and mouse
Brad Linder / Liliputing :
Context & Ripple Effects
HP's Elite x3 is the first OEM flagship built around the phone-as-PC idea Microsoft introduced last October, when its Display Dock promised a desktop session of universal apps from a Windows 10 mobile — a dock later priced at $99 alongside the Lumia 950 and 950XL. Where Microsoft shipped the reference hardware itself, HP is betting its business-focused brand can sell the same continuum story at $699, or $799 bundled with its own Desk Dock.
The phablet also slots into HP's broader Windows mobility lineup: the company already fields the fanless, Surface-style Elite x2 convertible for enterprise buyers, so the Elite x3 extends that pitch from a detachable tablet to a single device that replaces both phone and desktop.
First-order effects
- Enterprise buyers get one SKU covering two roles on August 29 — a 6-inch phone for $699 that becomes a monitor-and-keyboard workstation via the Desk Dock for $799 total.
- Microsoft's continuum concept moves from first-party Lumia hardware to an OEM channel, with HP's Desk Dock competing directly against Microsoft's own $99 Display Dock.
Second-order effects
- Rival PC makers face pressure to answer with their own dockable Windows phones or concede the enterprise 'one-device' pitch to HP, while dock pricing becomes a visible comparison point between HP's bundle and Microsoft's standalone accessory.
- UWP developers gain a concrete reason to ensure apps scale from phone to desktop-sized windows, since HP is shipping hardware whose headline feature depends on that behavior.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, the phone-docked-to-monitor model gives way to mobile-class chips inside traditional Windows form factors — the path later taken by Lenovo's ARM-based Miix 630 and Microsoft's custom-SQ1 Surface Pro X, which kept the 'phone silicon runs Windows' thesis after the handset version stalled.
- Enterprise procurement could shift toward per-user device bundles that blur the phone/PC budget line, forcing IT vendors to price hardware as a combined endpoint rather than separate categories.
The trend: Windows hardware is converging on mobile-derived chips and dockable, single-device computing — a thesis HP advances with the Elite x3 even as the market migrates it into tablets like the Surface Pro X.