Replies to post #119916 on Intel Corp (INTC)

[Andy Grave]

from neolib on SI

http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-blogs/other/4416482/Nokia--Samsung--Apple-victims-of--tipping-point--in-smartphone-market

Nokia, Samsung, Apple victims of smartphone 'tipping point'
Junko Yoshida
6/17/2013 9:24 AM EDT


conclusions from the article:

Connect all these data points together, and you begin to perceive a shift in the power dynamics of the mobile industry.

1. The high-end smartphone market is saturated.

2. The good old days of believing that Samsung and Apple can do no wrong in advancing the smartphone market are over.

3. Low-end smartphones are the new norm on the global cellphone market, effectively replacing feature phones.

4. Winners of the low-end smartphone segment are nobody who previously won with feature phones or high-end smartphones.

5. Differentiating one high-end smartphone from another is hard enough. Distinguishing one low-end smartphone from another is like telling ants apart.

As if to downplay a massive wave of downgrades on its company, Samsung announced today (June 17) that it will start selling the LTE-Advanced 4G version of its Galaxy S4 smartphones in Korea as early as this month.

While higher-speed data transmission should be welcomed by many consumers, let’s not forget that the network infrastructure to support the new data transmission standard isn’t broadly available. Counting on LTE-Advanced penetration to increase the Galaxy S4 sales is a stretch by any measure.

Unless something totally new emerges (i.e. screen technologies, longer battery life, etc.), winners in mainstream smartphones (read: low-end smartphones) are likely to be companies who can differentiate mostly on price and on lower margins (read: Chinese OEMs).

You are not alone feeling as though you’ve been tipped over.

[chipguy]

LOL, I guess we now know what Intel will do with all that 22 nm
capacity as computing devices move to 14 nm. Proliferating high
speed custom eDRAM cache to more and more devices is really
going to put a hurt on component competitors like AMD, Nvidia as
well as alternative platform competitors like IBM.

[DavidA2]

This IMO, is a nice surprise.

Intel is very good at packaging as well. I assume they are going to translate their technical leadership in such areas to revenue potential soon.

Also, I see the first Xeon Phi based on Knights Corner to have lots of room for improvement. I see it as a core with some fundamental flaws and unneeded baggage that will be fixed with Knights Landing.

In integrated graphics, eDRAM will enable iGPUs to no longer be practically free cheapy GPU that comes with a CPU, but something that becomes a legitimate competitor with most volume discrete GPUs.