It interesting how Apple has been able to stay ahead while often being a step or two behind from a technological standpoint (in some areas at least). I think it goes to show how important it is to have things work in a very seamless way.
The real player in this space is Nintendo, which specifically uses commodity hardware in its devices to drive down costs and to my knowledge does not sell consoles at loss the way that MS or Sony do or have done in the past.
As I once heard it described, Nintendo is fine to laugh about being a second-rate console all the way to the bank, because while MS and Sony fight out expensive battles to be people’s first consoles, the second console is usually Nintendo.
Apple has always been “behind” on some aspects and “ahead” on others. It boils down to the fact that they have their own priorities, which are different from what Android OEMs like to emphasise, which are also different from what people on Teh Interwebz like to go on about.
Ahead in what? Money they fleeced from US market? Core fanbase satisfaction? I don't think they were technologically ahead in anything in a decade or so. Unless you count inventing new charging ports and removing headphone jack or discovering that screen can have notches and customers still buy it.
Are they leapfrogging their competition or just keeping pace with the first place going alternatively to Apple and Android chips every generation where simply the newest chip is the fastest?
