> Increasing instructions-per-clock requires much bigger CPU cores, and the dies Apple use for their SoCs are famously enormous. While other chip manufacturers

> Increasing instructions-per-clock requires much bigger CPU cores, and the dies Apple use for their SoCs are famously enormous. While other chip manufacturers are very conscious of performance/$, Apple's vertical integration gives them wider margins and their customers are much less sensitive to value. So Apple can afford to spend a lot more on bigger chips that are on par in performance but have much greater efficiency. This is the money shot. Margins on Android phones are often in the single digit percentages, they have even had periods where they’re negative. Qualcomm or Mediatek could easily make phat chips but there would be almost no market for them. I am very curious what the actual performance of the Snapdragon X is going to be. Laptop margins are often just as thin, so it can’t be too expensive a chip either..