Yes, one very big advantage Apple has is focus, it's a benefit of "a stack they fully own". They are developing for a single customer, i.e. themselves. Contras

Yes, one very big advantage Apple has is focus, it's a benefit of "a stack they fully own". They are developing for a single customer, i.e. themselves. Contrast the situation when developing something for a number of OEMs. Qualcomm would need to "convince" multiple players. Those potential customers will inevitably ask for a plethora of major and minor features to be included. That takes more time and more engineering effort to accomplish. The resulting silicon often is an mishmash "or" of all the things asked for. Many years ago I was a fly on the wall watching Intel's mobile group attempt to develop a product for the ultra-mobile market. Even having the original iPhone as an example, Intel people would demand many many additional useless features. End result: Intel lost billions and never succeeded in that business. Qualcomm will doubtlessly do better than Intel, after all they are already a big player in ARM. But how can merchant silicon compete with the incredible integration of Apple's current products, let alone with what Apple will have in a few years? The article uses "lackluster" for Qualcomm's current products. Also for the future?