Thread regarding Qualcomm Inc. layoffs

Samsung had a chance to really differentiate, at least from the android "good enough" crowd. But Samsung blew it. Just like the end of Easy Rider

Anonymous131331, There certainly is no brand loyalty among android phones, because they are starting to all look the same, more or less. And there will be even less concerned about what's inside, as long as the spec sheet implies things are "better". So it will come down to price. The problem with cheap phones right now is that when you put a cheap app processor in a phone, the OEM is probably also going to skimp on the front and back camera (if you even get two cameras), the screen, the battery life, etc. So it's not just about the cheap phone's processor, it's the entire phone just functions/looks like crap. But if an OEM were to put in a lesser app processor, and still put a good camera, screen, and connectivity solution, and the phone costs $150 or less, people wouldn't care if the phone is mediatek powered or q-powered. In the US, cost of phone is becoming a bigger deal ever since the carriers eliminated the subsidies and started making people buy phones with monthly payments. Yes, I know it's basically the same thing as before where carriers offered subsidized phone, with the cost of the phone embedded in the monthly cost of the cell phone. But without phone subsides, many people are just opting not to upgrade their phone when their existing one is just fine. There's no way in hell I would spend $600 of my own money for a smartphone, even if it was only $20/month for the next 3 years. I'd keep using my old phone until it's dead. I

-MTK is getting ready for even bigger price war..they know QC is trying to cut costs to attack MTK in their market,They need to go even down on pricing...it's race to the bottom..

why, did MTK just announce restructuring and 15% headcount reduction?

Consumers may not care about L2 cache sizes, but they do see specs painted in broad strokes. Like Apple saying their first 64 bit offering was "desktop class" (of course it wasn't). Or that a particular chipset overheats. And you nailed it -- battery life! To me, it's not so much that mid and low-tier phones are "good enough" (although it explains a lot in terms of downward ASP trends), but that high tier chipsets running Android are "equally amazing". So there is no brand loyalty for chipset vendors from consumer point of view. Which is what OP was implying I think.

MediaTek wants to take on Big Dog Qualcomm. You will lose MediaTek. Qualcomm will chew you up and spit you out, Woof Woof

Anonymous131252, I don't think the majority of the consumers are concerned about processor performance, since again, most people aren't power users. I think where there would be a huge win is power savings. For most of the higher end phones (except iPhones), I can't get through more than 1 1/2 days without plugging in my Android phone. Partly, Android needs to be optimize for power savings. Partly, we need serious power savings for the app processors and screen.

good thread. for a change.

There's a reason that the mere mention of 8 cores was good enough to trick the average Chinese consumer into thinking its 2x perf vs 4 cores. The question is whether anybody will be excited about 820 if it is "only" 35% better . there aren't even good psychological barriers anymore (e.g 1 ghz clock) that consumers can become attached to.

Anonymous131238, I guess the bigger question I have is how many of the folks buying these phones are really hard core gamers that play games on their phones that require this much processing power on something like a 5"-6" display.

Ha-ha thank u @goodenough. Everybody should embrace their nicknames. Personally I'm curious what the a72 / a57 perf ratio is, especially since the "leaked" 820 specs indicate a big boost (presumably over a57)

As long as it's cheap and "good enough..." There' I said it again. Good enough.....

Great they have just gone to 4 CPU clusters. Sometimes I wonder are they employed engineer's actually a chipmunks?

Still if they employ at least decent number of GPU clusters this could be a good SoC. A big A72 (x4) cluster will certainly be more than competitive in CPU real usage scenarios.

Snapdragon should also be called Helio, because it`s hot like the SUN :D