For the moment, yes. But in practice, this years dongles are next years built-ins. The same was the case with GPS, accelerometers, temp and humidity sensors, blood oxygen sensors, incident light detection, finger print reading, cameras and so on. Phones absorb sensors like toddlers consume cookies, they can't get enough of them.

I want to those things. Tricorder please.

It will happen. The bigger obstacle is to make sensors cheaper. But MEMS has opened many doors already and I think microfluidics and various gas sensors (think chromatograph in your pocket) will be the next frontier.

I wish that Apple would match all these sensor features on their laptops as well.

I’d like to have a thermometer in my iPhone, for ambient temp, but most of all I am waiting for IR photography and the the inevitable calibrated fever thermometer app.

I'll bet $20 you can find a combination thermometer cellphone on aliexpress.

Oh, I found one already!

I don’t want an Aliexpress phone, though.

The promo image for the next Apple event looks kinda like IR false colour to me, so maybe you’ll get your wish?

I have this absurd vision of someone sticking their smartphone edge-on into a slab of beef as a meat thermometer.