What is MHL and why do you need it?

So the support or lack thereof is down to Apple, Microsoft and other relevant manufacturers. As there's so little holding it up there's hope that one day MHL might work on all major smartphones, but that requires Apple and Microsoft to actually want to support the technology.

In Apple's case an argument could be made that it's stepping on the toes of the company's expensive proprietary cables which serve a similar purpose and to a lesser extent it may even hinder sales of Apple TV.

With that in mind we're not optimistic that Apple will ever embrace it, though there doesn't seem to be as much standing in Microsoft's way.

But even when it comes to Android phones and tablets, which do mostly support it, a lot of people aren't taking advantage of MHL.

An obvious way to both make people aware of it and get it in their hands would be to include an MHL cable with phones, but that again is down to manufacturers and they have little incentive to do so.

Though the MHL Consortium tells us that in certain geographies manufacturers do include the cables with their TV's and monitors, so that's a step in the right direction.

For now though if you want a taste of MHL you'll just have to buy a cable for yourself, but with prices starting at only a few pounds there's little reason not to buy one if you have any interest in bringing your smartphone content to a big screen.

In most cases the cable is all you need, but there are a whole host of compatible accessories such as controllers and docks to further augment and improve the experience.

As for the future of MHL, well that's largely down to the MHL Consortium, but the company has assured us that it's "always thinking of ways to stay ahead of the technology curve to meet the future needs of our technology adopters."

It seems there are a wealth of future ways that MHL could be used. While she couldn't comment on specifics, Dr Chen told us that "there are always new things coming up. MHL could be used in cars, fitness equipment, planes or anything else that a phone can be tethered to." So in that sense the sky really is the limit.

• Sticking with HDMI for your media? Then read up on HDMI 2.0.