The laptop has that fan because it needs to move all that hot air the CPU, GPU and whatevever-else-U that is doing who knows what inside the chassis.<p>Similarly with the phone. The old phone did one thing, make and receive calls. Your new phone is in contact with a number of servers constantly, monitors location, gravity (screen rotation), proximity (so your ear do not hang up on people), and a bunch of other stuff.<p>Also, while improving hardware is about using fewer atoms to do the same job, battery is age old chemistry. End result is that it takes longer to make better batteries. Never mind that more energetic batteries can be lethal if they are anything less than rugged.<p>But yeah, creeping featuritis is a persistent problem.