It wont for simple economic reasons: if (big IF) consoles really go down in popularity that means there wont be enough users to justify selling units at a loss,

It wont for simple economic reasons: if (big IF) consoles really go down in popularity that means there wont be enough users to justify selling units at a loss, the main reason why consoles were always cheaper than gaming rigs. Just look at the history of consoles, there were many models that had small userbases and thus were a niche. All failed, no exceptions. Nobody is going to subsidize a console if there aren't enough game sales to get that investment back. Similarly if people stopped buying smartphones then carriers would stop subsidizing them, so iPhones would cost $600 and then who would want one? not nearly enough people to justify current production levels, and BTW without those it would be far more than $600 without a subsidy. Hardcore gamers, "purists", are already using highend gaming rigs that cost several times more than a console does. But they are a minority and sales numbers prove it. If all this happened then consoles would disappear, or morph into something resembling the Phantom, which BTW failed big time.