Apple proved the comeback could be done. For the longest time they wernt the juggernaut they are now. They were borderline bankrupt being kept afloat because lots of design firms were Apple loyalists way back when. Then Jobs returned.
At the moment, one of the only companies that seems has nowhere to go but up, is companies like Apple and Samsung. With so many markets they both have, with the talent and momentum to be a market leader in just a few years, they seem unstoppable.
Computing is shifting. As an enthusi dude, I love it. Arm chips are challenging intel. Intel just said..no more tick tock for the desktop. Apples chips are scaring the F out of all of them. Yes, I said Apple. BTW, they have a ram company as well and are working on tighter integration beteen, CPU,APU,RAM,GPU.... the bus is key. Think about it. look back a few years ago w/ USB 3.1 Apple had more engeneers on that than all else.. save yup..HP. Apple was key to Thunderbolt. Latest gen 3..all enginers.. dominating w/ intel...
I've been frustrated for years how PC enthusiasts haven't noticed Apple's semiconductor work. Especially in the past few years, Apple has not only been soundly kicking the asses of every other ARM manufacturer/designer in the business - Qualcomm and Samsung included - but they've undeniably been creating some of the most exciting processors, designs, and integrations in the industry, by a
long shot. Intel remains the best fabricator and manufacturer, but a persuasive argument can be made that Apple's SoC design team is the best in the world.
A good example of this: The current generation iPhones 6s can run practically unthrottled (which it itself a big achievement in the mobile phone form factor), while having single-core performance that
exceeds that of the MacBook - a desktop processor running a desktop OS. And multi-core performance that's nipping at Intel's heels, to boot. In a device that costs half as much.
Another: Even with less cores, less transistors, and less memory, on-device benchmarks show Apple consistently meeting or beating performance metrics of comparable Android flagships. Because they aren't re-purposing a generic design made by a fab that wants broad customer appeal, the efficiency of the processor is improved considerably, and this level of customization means that Apple can spend die space on superior post-image processing (for the camera), sensor co-processing, and a wider architecture - even with lower power consumption.
One more: Apple's graphics performance is even
better (on a relative basis) when compared to other ARM chips, with Apple's last-generation devices consistently beating Samsung's
current-generation devices in on-device benchmarks. Which is to say, Apple's lead is a whole year at a minimum.
Just imagine if, in 2009, someone speculated that Apple would be in this position in five years. They would have been excoriated. And yet, Jobs's insistence that they have direct control over SoC design has translated to Apple's signature hardware advantage in the mobile electronics space. And now that they're pushing to design storage controllers, memory controllers, display controllers, modems... this advantage will only be cemented further.
I'm an old hunter. I csn tell you this most all sites miss. The green team fears Red Team now. Red team did some great shizz under the radar, Green team focused on putting them down, evevery chance, every opening they could. The DX112 stats tell me the olded RED Team cards are still keeping up with the best Green team can offer. Why is this? How can this be? So Green Team, who makes more money started paying off Game devs.. err investing in, to use Gameworks. This has worked in Green teams favor for what folks.. two years? Then they trie, Green team to corner markets with GSync... How's that working out for them. They has the cash.. but monitor mfgrs haven't given them exclusive domain. That shiz costs the monitor mfgrs too. Which is why you still see movement towards Team Red. Open Source. and why I see fear from Team Green now in the GPU front. Team Red got way ahead w/HBM. And, if you dig deeper into it, Team Red owns patients. Google vs MS with Andriod comes to mind.
I'd have to disagree with this sentiment. If I had to invest $1 million in one of these companies, I would put it in nVIdia without a second thought.
HBM is interesting and exciting, but AMD's current product lineup is a highly compromised collection of parts that they're only going to be able to continue selling by heavily discounting once nVidia responds, which will kill their margins. i know that a lot of people who would consider themselves AMD fans like to make the argument that AMD generally always stays at least a little bit ahead of nVidia in terms of price/performance in this way, but the practical hardware design compromises to get there with the current gen (laughable efficiency and a reliance on old parts at the low to mid-range, and low memory and mandatory use of an AIO at the high end) are becoming ridiculous. Plus, slashing pricing is simply not a sustainable strategy for a company that actually wants to make money.
(AMD's been bleeding money, even from the division responsible for graphics,
for some time now).
Comparatively, nVidia's current stuff has stunning efficiency and overclocks like a champion. Their unified architecture aligns well with a growing presence in mobile. They're diversifying heavily, and even if half of those initiatives fail, they get entry to billion-dollar business with the other half. Oh, and nVidia's been seeing
record revenues alongside consistent profits. Which are helpful when the R&D costs of the business are escalating as fast as they are.
...I don't say this to say that AMD sucks, or to say that I want them to fail (I sure as hell don't), but I don't agree with the sentiment that the market advantage is with team red currently, let alone that they're in a dead heat. nVidia is (mostly) cleaning AMD's clock right now. AMD's basically betting that the stuff we have yet to see will leapfrog them into the lead.
