Originally Posted by
nkedel
re: some of the convergence and future services, those may be drivers of processing power at some point it remains to be seen if the software will actually get written to enable any of that, or if people will start using it. The engineering problems with developing the software and services are a lot bigger than the need for more CPU power.
I'm doing a poor job of conveying what I'm thinking of. Let me put it another way. If you could have one device the size of a phone that contains all the computing power you need, and this device could connect to a variety of screens (wirelessly or docked), and all it took was authentication of your account/device to sync everything via the cloud, then there would be no need for multiple devices - you'd need only different screens. When you stepped into your car, your device would power a screen on your dashboard. When you stepped into your office, it would power the screen on your desk. And so on. I'm *not* saying this will happen anytime soon, nor ever... it's just the direction I think things are headed that I was trying to use as an example of one reason additional power in small devices could be utilized/desirable.
I still agree with your original and general point that some specs on phones have essentially maxed out where incremental gains don't mean much, especially if they add cost. I won't be paying a premium for a 30MP camera or 4K resolution on a phone anytime soon. 12MP and HD? Sure.