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I'll tell you of a story of 5-6 years ago. There was a company called Allwinner Semiconductors. It was making super cookiecutter SoCs for tablets, and been aim
by baybal2 5y ago
I'll tell you of a story of 5-6 years ago.
There was a company called Allwinner Semiconductors. It was making super cookiecutter SoCs for tablets, and been aiming at the exploding "phablet" space.
In the tablet space, it completely vanquished companies with many times the market cap, and marketing expense Qualcomm included.
Qualcomm was really scared of them following them to the smartphone space, and going for their jugular.
What they did:
In around 2015-2016, they announce a "strategic deal" with Allwinner, with Allwinner distributing their low end SoCs on a borderline giveaway terms.
Just few days later, their "phablet" offering disappears from their website. Few month later, their C-levels leave the company one after another, with some leaving for the fancy life in the US.
I had contacts of some of their management people in my wechat account, and after 2016 their feeds were all cheese, and wine, cheese, and wine, and fancy dining, and parties.
Nowadays, Allwinner is a shadow of its former self in its heydays, mostly dealing with most basic settop box SoCs.
Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes
- girvo 5y agoI miss the days of weird phones and tablets with brand names I've never heard of with Allwinner SoCs in them. Such odd devices, so much fun to play with and explore. Rockchip based handheld gaming devices are about the closest to it nowadays.
- jrockway 5y agoDoesn't the Pinephone, HN's favorite mobile device, use Allwinner SoCs?
- blihp 5y agoYes, but that's not what the poster is talking about. The Pinephone is a comparatively conventional/mundane handset design. It sounds like they were longing for more 'out there'/experimental designs that apparently were using A64 several years ago.
- MangoCoffee 5y agohow about MediaTek? is Qualcomm worry about MediaTek?
- baybal2 5y agoThe momentum has been lost. Mediatek is a much more conventional vendor than what Allwinner was, moreover a Taiwanese company without advantage in mainland China. I think Qualcomm is quite used to competition from such.
- sydthrowaway 5y agoSounds like a good deal?
- jjtheblunt 5y agoLaocoon !
- megous 5y agoSad. I wonder if Allwinner A200 will ever be released or is even being worked on...