> Plenty of low-end Chinese routers, phones, tablets, and various Android-running devices use MIPS I don't think MIPS is common in phones or tablets anymore, t

> Plenty of low-end Chinese routers, phones, tablets, and various Android-running devices use MIPS I don't think MIPS is common in phones or tablets anymore, those have moved on to the low end of ARM. However, MIPS is still used in many networking devices and was up until recently, also used in set-top boxes (STB) like the kind you get from your cable provider. > their performance (or once again, lack thereof) is notable You don't need gobs of CPU performance in networking devices. All the layer 2 packet handling is done in hardware, and for layer 3 routing the MIPS core(s) are powerful enough to offer 100Mbit NAT performance, which is 99% of what home internet users need currently. Most managed switches today are either using an updated version of the PowerPC 630 or some ancient and low clocked ARM core. [1] You don't need gigahertz CPUs in these devices because the CPU is only there to run the management OS (typically Linux) which then configures the switching/routing hardware. > One only has to look at the prominence (or lack thereof) of MIPS There are billions of MIPS devices out there. Most homes will have one in their WiFi router, and others in their STB. The only reason MIPS isn't "prominent" is because the products aren't advertised as containing a MIPS core, and people don't know it's MIPS. [1] https://h50146.www5.hpe.com/products/networking/datasheet/4AA1-7808ENW.pdf https://h50146.www5.hpe.com/products/networking/datasheet/4A...