Habitability
A recent study has suggested that not only are life-sustaining desert planets possible, but that they might be more common than Earth-like planets. The reason for this prediction is that, when modeled, desert planets had a much larger habitable zone than watery planets.
The same study also speculates that Venus may have once been a habitable desert planet a long time ago. It is also believed by many that the same may have been true for Mars, and that life on Mars may exist even in the modern era. (This has yet to be determined).
It's also assumed Earth will become a desert planet within a billion years due to the Sun's increasing luminosity.
Despite how they are commonly portrayed, a habitable desert planet would probably not have a completely uniform climate. It would likely have some amount of surface water near its poles, although the climate pattern would strongly depend, as for other bodies, on the axial tilt.
Read more about this topic: Desert Planet