"PSP Emulator PPSSPP For iOS, Android, Windows And BlackBerry Now Available"

Does this imply that there would also be emulators being developed for the Vita and 3DS? As of now there are frame rate issues with current smarphones while running games on PPSSPP, but when smartphones like Samsung S4 comes in with the 8-core chip ARM processor, it should be very smooth with rare exceptions of 1 or 2 games. These phones will definitely be taking a big chunk off the handheld market in the coming years.

Is this any sign of an impending doom for current handhelds?

http://www.redmondpie.com/psp-emulator-ppsspp-for-ios-android-windows-and-blackberry-now-available-video/

You still can't control them! It is pointless to have the PSP games without being able to control them, that is what sets proper handheld consoles apart from phones

They also claim that the iPad 4 outperforms the Vita graphically, which may be true, but it also costs 2x as much and you can't properly control the games

But unfortunately, as the site are very keen to stress, people like me are in the minority and most would rather cheaper and inferior games

Just incase controlling them bothers some of us

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6I4nmYkogM

The Octo-core inside the S4 is not really an 8-Core CPU. It's two Quadcores literally duct-taped together, and there is always only one of them active. Besides, Europe gets "only" a quad-core, but with 1,9 GHz.

That said, for emulation of the psp Smartphones would need much stronger GPUs. While a strong CPU sure helps, there are just operations that need a GPU to be processed efficiently. It is simply not possible with 100 % speed and sound at the moment. But even if it eventually will become a possibility one day, the battery would die fast as shit, because all components of the smartphone would run at full speed. So you're looking at a damn expensive piece of hardware that runs PSP Titles for like 30 Minutes. I think just buying a PSP or a Vita would be the better option. Even more in times of Smartphones without changeable batteries.

Did you not see the new controller that Samsung is making with the new S4, it looks just like an Xbox controller. Dedicated gaming handhelds are coming to an end why spend more money when I can do it all on my phone? That's the reason why I will never buy a handheld again at this point it's just a waste of money.

Looks promising. Something like Tegra 4 on tablets should be able to give this a run with good speed as well as mid to high end x86 laptops and tablets.

Agreed, but still then in the next 2 years or less what if both battery and CPU power constraints are reduced? Aren't handhelds expected to be in the market for longer durations which means better smartphones and tablets over the time-frame.

Nice, I am going to try this on my tablet. The thing is that I suspect each game would be huge and you could probably only keep most games on my system while I was playing them.

Most smartphones (even the latest flagships HTC One, S4, Xperia Z) dont have much more or even as much GPU power as the Vita...emulating Vita software at decent framerates is far off.

I think it will take a little longer, until then, the PSP will be just old news. A Vita Emulator won't be available on smartphones for at least five years. Until then Sony will be releasing their next handheld, making the Vita old news. So in a best case scenario, you'll always be able to just emulate last generation, which guarantees Handhelds won't become obsolete. All that doesn't help of course if sales keep on being so low as they are right now. But if handhelds are discontinued, you won't be seeing comparable mobile games anymore, instead, you're stuck with the shovelware that is currently available on Android and iPhone. And that is a scenario I sure don't want to happen. But I'm still pretty optimistic, Smartphones and tablets are really hyped at the moment, but just like every hype, it will die off eventually. Of course smartphones won't die, as they are the new cell phones, but many people just will lose interest in upgrading every 6 months or even every two years. Besides, many developers will turn away from Android and iOS as only very few are actually making profits on those Platforms. On a handheld device, you have a smaller userbase, but every single user is interested in gaming and they are also willing to pay significantly more for their games.