That might be possible, just not for Bitcoin. There are much softer algorithms and who knows? There might be a new one (mobile device friendly) around the corner. The device would need to be connected to power to run the chip, however
Despite this, I don't see anything similar happening in near future.
I tried running a mobile bitcoin miner on my smartphone (quadcore 2 ghz) and I got 7mh/s haha. After a few minutes, my phone gets hot so I stopped. Even if it's connected to a power source, the main issue on such a device would be overheating (unless manufacturers of this kind of device would find a workaround for this).
That's why such a thing will be impossible for Bitcoin, and it's not feasible with current technology chips... Although I still think it will be difficult to implement such a thing, it probably won't be technically impossible in the future. And we all know that some smartphone makers like to pile up their newest flagships with things that might not be of general use just to be the first ones...
Yep, even though it is not a necessity to be included, smartphone manufacturers like to embed something out of the ordinary.. just to be the first in that field. It is not even worth it to put a mining chip in a smartphone because just what I already said, the heat generated from the mining chip would affect the nearby parts of the phone.
But who do you think will be the first in this field? Samsung? Google? Sony? or Nokia?
Depends who wants to make their own currency first.
We never know, there might be a silent race among all the technology companies to develop an ASIC that can be put in phones, and we'll get big reveals in a few years. Personally, though, I'd doubt that would happen for a fairly long time.
Google is open to accepting new things, not sure on their stance in regards with bitcoins.
There always is a silent race happening among these companies in terms of new features and and whatnot. ASIC? I don't think they will think about it in the near future.
ASIC chips on a smartphone or tablet is not going to happen, I think.
Besides the heat, I'd never do it because I want my battery to last more than an hour. It dies fast enough as is it. Add to that mining plus constant wifi use and kiss that battery goodbye.
Not only will you say goodbye to your battery, but also to your phone as well because of the constant stress that it is producing for just running the chip embedded on it.