CarmB

melgross said:

CarmB said:

That's a problem mainly because the speed of existing processors is more than sufficient to meet the needs of the vast majority of users. Really fast upgraded to faster still, in real-world use, adds up to no discernible upgrade. Asking consumers who already are facing substantial price increases to pay more for essentially nothing doesn't appear to be a good grasp of what will best serve consumers. In the end, the key to success does lie in making your customers happy. Charging more with nothing to show for it is not how you do that. As the price of acquiring the latest and greatest goes up, it motivates consumers to think hard about upgrading from a working iPhone. So if Apple goes to a higher price point with its iPhone line, it will not end well for Apple. The only way this would work would be if there was compelling functionality added to the iPhone experience as a result of a processor upgrade. Current processors are so capable that it seems unlikely this will happen. 

I can’t really agree with that. With many, if not most phone users playing games that need more and more performance, every boost is a good thing. Additionally, for image processing and other performance intensive apps, better chips are always going to be needed.

There’s no point in saying that things are good enough, because they never are. I remember when it was said that the new IBM 286 computer, with that chip, was all that business needed. Then later, that the single core, because that was what everything was back then, 486 was as fast and anyone needed. We hear people saying this over and again, and they’re always wrong. It’s wrong here as well.

There was a time when advancements in processor power really mattered. We are no longer living in that time. The advancements impacted just about everybody who used a computer. Now, not so much. There are uses that can take advantage of even incremental performance enhancements but these days they represent a niche element. For the vast majority of the tasks that we use our iPhones, Macs, and iPads to perform, processor performance is more than adequate. Weighing that against increasing the price tag and clearly the price hike is far more consequential from the perspective of the typical consumer. 

That's a problem mainly because the speed of existing processors is more than sufficient to meet the needs of the vast majority of users. Really fast upgraded to faster still, in real-world use, adds up to no discernible upgrade. Asking consumers who already are facing substantial price increases to pay more for essentially nothing doesn't appear to be a good grasp of what will best serve consumers. In the end, the key to success does lie in making your customers happy. Charging more with nothing to show for it is not how you do that. As the price of acquiring the latest and greatest goes up, it motivates consumers to think hard about upgrading from a working iPhone. So if Apple goes to a higher price point with its iPhone line, it will not end well for Apple. The only way this would work would be if there was compelling functionality added to the iPhone experience as a result of a processor upgrade. Current processors are so capable that it seems unlikely this will happen. 

Considering how much is being made regarding the power needed to implement AI, the most important element of Apple's hardware is its efficiency. Could be a dramatic advantage going forward.