Analysis of the development of mobile applications in engineering: architecture, challenges, and technological limitations

This study analyzes the development of mobile applications in the field of engineering, considering their evolution, architectural design, and main limitations compared to traditional desktop applications. Based on a literature review and industry reports from sources such as the International Data Corporation, the GSMA, and market analyses from Statista, a sustained global growth in mobile device adoption is evident, which has driven increased interest in the development of more complex mobile solutions. However, the results show that mobile applications still face significant constraints in processing power, energy consumption, scalability, and the execution of advanced simulations, limiting their applicability in high-performance engineering environments. Furthermore, the analysis of mobile application architecture—based on presentation, business, service, and data layers—highlights advantages in system modularity but also reveals performance challenges and dependency on external connectivity, particularly when cloud-based solutions or tools such as MATLAB are used. Overall, it is concluded that the development of mobile applications in engineering is currently in a transitional technological stage, not yet reaching the maturity level of desktop platforms, but showing strong potential for evolution due to advances in cross-platform frameworks and distributed computing technologies. This study contributes to the identification of key technical and conceptual challenges that should be addressed in future developments to enhance the efficiency and functionality of mobile engineering applications.