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I do regularly game on my phone, and I'm still quite happy with a three-year-old iPhone 6s. The vast majority of mobile games don't require advanced specs, and

I do regularly game on my phone, and I'm still quite happy with a three-year-old iPhone 6s. The vast majority of mobile games don't require advanced specs, and even if I played Fortnite I wouldn't play it on a damn phone.

tw04 8y ago
Apple has been multiple generations ahead of Qualcomm in both graphics and processing for years and years. That's not really a valid comparison.
- mises 8y ago
  But not modems. They're still the top there, and competitors seem unable to beat them; can any one provide insight as to why? Maybe Apple will do in-house development and succeed with that.
  - Bud 8y ago
    Modems are hard. Apple already is doing in-house development; that's why they poached the head of Intel's in-house wireless modem chip team. But they clearly don't have a product yet, or Apple wouldn't have paid several billion dollars to Qualcomm to settle up.
  - nneonneo 8y ago
    Doesn’t Qualcomm protect their modems with a giant firewall of patents? I’d wager it’s hard to make a good modem without violating (or being forced to license) at least a few of their patents.
- cageface 8y ago
  Apple chips actually fall behind current Qualcomm chips in most GPU benchmarks now. They still have a lead in core CPU performance but the gap there has narrowed considerably.
  - ksec 8y ago
    >Apple chips actually fall behind current Qualcomm chips in most GPU benchmarks now Not sure why you are getting that idea. But that is not true. Even including cases where Qualcomm Adreno 640 used in 855 under some overclocked condition. And unless something truly magical happens I don't see Qualcomm will catch up, GPU performance scales linearly with Die Size used for GPU, and Apple will forever have the advantage in that area, where Apple are using the SoC themselves and could afford larger die, while Qualcomm makes profits on die and yield of their SoC.
- ido 8y ago
  Which iPhone would the 3a be comparable to? I have a couple years old iPhone SE and never had performance issues.

tw04 8y ago

Apple has been multiple generations ahead of Qualcomm in both graphics and processing for years and years. That's not really a valid comparison.

mises 8y ago
But not modems. They're still the top there, and competitors seem unable to beat them; can any one provide insight as to why? Maybe Apple will do in-house development and succeed with that.
- Bud 8y ago
  Modems are hard. Apple already is doing in-house development; that's why they poached the head of Intel's in-house wireless modem chip team. But they clearly don't have a product yet, or Apple wouldn't have paid several billion dollars to Qualcomm to settle up.
- nneonneo 8y ago
  Doesn’t Qualcomm protect their modems with a giant firewall of patents? I’d wager it’s hard to make a good modem without violating (or being forced to license) at least a few of their patents.
cageface 8y ago
Apple chips actually fall behind current Qualcomm chips in most GPU benchmarks now. They still have a lead in core CPU performance but the gap there has narrowed considerably.
- ksec 8y ago
  >Apple chips actually fall behind current Qualcomm chips in most GPU benchmarks now Not sure why you are getting that idea. But that is not true. Even including cases where Qualcomm Adreno 640 used in 855 under some overclocked condition. And unless something truly magical happens I don't see Qualcomm will catch up, GPU performance scales linearly with Die Size used for GPU, and Apple will forever have the advantage in that area, where Apple are using the SoC themselves and could afford larger die, while Qualcomm makes profits on die and yield of their SoC.
ido 8y ago
Which iPhone would the 3a be comparable to? I have a couple years old iPhone SE and never had performance issues.