I have upgraded, my wife upgraded and then I upgraded once again in 5 years and I am about to upgrade to a Samsung Note 7 - all phones...all ARM. Meanwhile...my desktop...is sitting there...running windows 7...last time it was upgraded was in 2009. Anything more to say?
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Intel is doing its biggest mistake by continuing to ignore phone market. 10x bigger than when Otellini gave up on iphone.
In my family we bought 8 phones in last 5 years. But we also bought 3 new Laptops and one MacBook.
@InLJOhx-2opj is right. Intel lost its way on the next big thing post PC, which turned out to be mobile computing aka phones. The company could still survive though in a very different way. Think: IBM. They were in a tailspin too, circa late 90s.They dumped the hardware biz and OS biz and went to business consulting. I understand Intel's groping-at-straws strategy of IoT, drones, reality shows, MICA and fashion, I really do. It is a try. But I have no confidence in the current CEO to make the transitions needed. I frankly don't claim to know or promulgate what would work. Intel has been a hugely positive company and force historically. I hope it can right itself.
The issue for intel is that PC volume is dropping every year and will likely stabilize at 200 million. That means at 10nm you only really need 2 fabs. More layoffs and consolidations is coming, Of course 10nm will be really late and low yielding so three fabs won't be enough but cost will be high.
Smartphones aren't contracting and still growing and total volume is close to a BILLION so guess which companies make the money and push on the process and invest in huge factories, it ain't intel.
Intel will continue to shrink while Samsung and TSMC grow bigger, One lost the virtuous cycle while two gained it.
free/subsidized phones also help(ed) the refresh cycles on those devices - to the OP, how many did you pay full price for?
phones fall and break more often than desktops, also helps refresh cycles
phone OS updates slows down...errr, not as optimized, for older phones (sound familiar?)
and now tablets sales (or their rate, I forget) is declining because the model from a few years back is good enough.
these devices are approaching some of the traits seen in PCs too. It doesn't mean PC doesn't have problems, but don't think phones/tablets are immune to all of these either
Sticking with my Q9650 and Vista desktop. Back in the good old PC days, I used to upgrade mobo and processor about every 6 months. I do have a current Win7 laptop and the old desktop performs just as well.
Thank you Intel and Microsoft.
Phones are turning into PC's though. I got iPhone 4, 4S, 5, (skipped 5S), 6, (skipped 6S), but looks like 7 isn't that exciting so probably won't get it, they say they are holding out until next years edition (10 year anniversary) for big updates. Wear & tear? Just put it in a good case.
Phones need replaced due to daily wear and tear just like cats. That PC sitting safely on your desk at home doesn't.
Not really bro - this kind of nicely sums it up - Rene said once "we completely missed the mobile signals" - that's the core of the problem at least she admitted.
The key for phone upgrade is of course your daily usage and wear and tear, with care I think a phone can last 3 years, but the younger and the careless I can see the phone barely lasting two years. Then you got the lithium battery thing that will go in about two years. I think that smartphones will still see an upgrade of between two to three years, PCs between 4-5 years. Thus the volume for smarpthone upgrades will be 4-5x of PCs, 200-250Million PCs all x86, and a billion phones all powered by ARM, tidy volume for TSMC and Samsung for the Aps processor and modem.
I will argue though that the phone market today was the PC market in the 90's/'00's when upgrading every few years was necessary. I'm not a Samsung phone user, but there's really not that much difference between an iPhone 5 and 6. The performance jumps were significantly bigger in the older phones. Soon you won't need to upgrade your phone hardware so quickly. You'll just be replacing it because it's damaged/lost (and a PC doesn't have that issue.)
Mercedes, BMW and others make a quality product but people upgrade all the time to the newest model for fashion or prestige or real improvement. Sadly unless you are a gamer, there really isn't any need to upgrade your laptop/PC. If a family has an extra few hundred dollars for an electronic gizmo go ask your kids you want a new PC or an new iPhone7 this fall, LOL
To add to it. Refresh buying an Intel system orelse you won't be able to keep your desktop this long. Other systems die sooner. Just to show you Intel is a quality product.
Yea I have something to say. You are one cheap guy. Its been long enough, go and upgrade.
One virtuous cycle has come to an end, Intel / x86: http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3373617
A new virtuous cycle has arisen for ARM and TSMC - Foundry: http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aeco/201607140013.aspx