4 ms·

You're making my point for me. Recent Pixels are basically the only well-known Android phones in the US market that _aren't_ using Qualcomm SoCs, and they're a

You're making my point for me. Recent Pixels are basically the only well-known Android phones in the US market that _aren't_ using Qualcomm SoCs, and they're a very small share of the US market. That gives Qualcomm more leverage, not less, in shaping the future of Android devices.

scarface74 4y ago
My point is that the market for people who both care about performance and buy Androids is relatively small - too small to make the same type of investments in high performance chips that Apple makes. The market for high performance Android phones in the US is particularly small. Android phones are so far behind in performance now that even the low end iPhone SE benchmarks better than high end Android phones. This is the same reason that no chip maker even tries to make processors that are as performant for Android Watches as the Apple Watch. Android devices have been a commoditized race to the bottom for a decade.
- cpgxiii 4y ago
  I think you're over focusing on present phone performance as reflecting a lack of future interest in performance improvement, especially from the perspective of a vendor. No phone manufacturer, and especially not Google as the parent of the whole Android ecosystem, would willingly accept a future in which their devices did not improve at least _somewhat_ generation over generation. Doing so would guarantee losing market share to Apple in every market in the world. This entire lawsuit, one could argue, centers around the belief by some vendors (Qualcomm, Nuvia, etc) that in-house designs - even those made by small teams - can significantly outperform the designs that ARM produces and makes available via TLA licensing, and that (implicitly) the pace of ARM's own development is not fast enough or reliable enough to be competitive in the markets these vendors want to operate in.
  - scarface74 4y ago
    Android is not going to lose more market share to Apple as long as Apple’s “low cost” phone is over $100 more expensive than the average cost of an Android phone. People who are use to paying $270 for a phone aren’t going to jump on a $429 iPhone SE let alone a $1200 iPhone Pro Max. Prices for iPhones are even more distorted overseas. The last decade is littered with OEMs trying to produce “high end” Android phones. Not enough people would buy them to make it a sustainable business. I’m not making a value judgment on them. Most people are fine with a sub $100 unsubsidized Android phone like the ones selling in developing countries and in the US.

scarface74 4y ago

My point is that the market for people who both care about performance and buy Androids is relatively small - too small to make the same type of investments in high performance chips that Apple makes. The market for high performance Android phones in the US is particularly small. Android phones are so far behind in performance now that even the low end iPhone SE benchmarks better than high end Android phones. This is the same reason that no chip maker even tries to make processors that are as performant for Android Watches as the Apple Watch. Android devices have been a commoditized race to the bottom for a decade.

cpgxiii 4y ago
I think you're over focusing on present phone performance as reflecting a lack of future interest in performance improvement, especially from the perspective of a vendor. No phone manufacturer, and especially not Google as the parent of the whole Android ecosystem, would willingly accept a future in which their devices did not improve at least _somewhat_ generation over generation. Doing so would guarantee losing market share to Apple in every market in the world. This entire lawsuit, one could argue, centers around the belief by some vendors (Qualcomm, Nuvia, etc) that in-house designs - even those made by small teams - can significantly outperform the designs that ARM produces and makes available via TLA licensing, and that (implicitly) the pace of ARM's own development is not fast enough or reliable enough to be competitive in the markets these vendors want to operate in.
- scarface74 4y ago
  Android is not going to lose more market share to Apple as long as Apple’s “low cost” phone is over $100 more expensive than the average cost of an Android phone. People who are use to paying $270 for a phone aren’t going to jump on a $429 iPhone SE let alone a $1200 iPhone Pro Max. Prices for iPhones are even more distorted overseas. The last decade is littered with OEMs trying to produce “high end” Android phones. Not enough people would buy them to make it a sustainable business. I’m not making a value judgment on them. Most people are fine with a sub $100 unsubsidized Android phone like the ones selling in developing countries and in the US.