Huh?

It would lose the one major advantage that consoles have over PC(platform equivalency), damage the brand (similar to what happened to Sega, an incorporate a perversion of a pc disadvatange (while buying a new gpu might be all you need to upgrade your pc, you would need a new retail xb1 for the spec increase. Sure you can determine whether to buy a new model, but you wouldn't be able to choose when or what you upgrade, and how much you want to spend for it.

If you hadn't deleted my words above what you chose to quote, you would have noticed that I was just making a "what if" scenario.

BUT!!!!

I doubt people would buy another console every year to get minor upgrades.  They would probably get every other version at most.  Just look at the ipads/iphones.  They do minor upgrades every year and the same apps run on all of them.   But, all of this is really irrellevent, as I doubt M$ or Sony would ever do it. 

You could be right.  When I saw the jump in graphics from PS3 to PS4, the lack of features (like a real headset), no 3D Blu Ray support, and even simple apps (like a youtube app),software etc., it became pretty apparent to me that the PS4 is currently a pretty bare bones experience for the time being.  If the Xbox One were priced lower with all of the stuff it offers, I think we would be looking at a different picture--in North America at least.

The lack of education and mob mentality has really hurt the Xbox One's chances. I actually think the One packs enough stuff in the box and comparable power to justify the price (Ps2 was same price as Xbox back when) but when a consumer sees $399 vs $499, it's hard to see anything else.  Like you said, it's the same hurdle the PS3 had to overcome.

Clearly. I was just pointing out the flaws in that hypothetical situation and adding reasons why it wouldn't happen.

Smartphones are as poor an analog to Consoles as PCs are.

Their is some overlap in the media they work with and the architecture but thats about it.

Phones/tablets but more so with phones have such rapid dev cycles because of Economies of Scale and how mainstream they are. Smartphones are regarded as such a neccesity that a vast majority will upgrade when they get the chance, but a lot of people will upgrade at different times.

Even Microsoft, which is only one company would be finacially damaged by the R&D and Manufacturing costs of shipping multiple versions of a console. When I say Version, I don't mean SKU which are essentially the same version. Constantly changing the architecture to upgrade the specs would'nt be cost effective, especially if they want to get to high-tier specs which are completly unrealistic for mass production at a reasonable price.

Like a SmartPhone?

Most all of the new games are scalable, and so is DirectX, it seems like it could be possible.  The problem it seems would come with consumers.  Part of the reason of having a console is simplicity. 

People buy new smart phones often because It seems many get broken or messed up.  Console tend to have an easier life.  (I have never seed someone drop their console in a parking lot, lol.)

Plus even with the scalability of game engines, it never quite works out the way it should on paper.

It's not a bad idea.  I would think Nintendo could try it with a WiiU2 and some fancy exclusive game.

well the market is not the same... you don't have hundreds of millions of potential customers.... and you are not in a highly competitive market... (well you are but because it is a small one compared to the smartphone one)

anyway the idea is not bad... it is just not viable yet.... but in a few decades that will pretty much be that way.... you'll have a bunch of media hub market from cheap basic ones to expensive ones... and we'll have also a bunch of terminals to connect to the private hub and massive public cloud networks....

and all that voice activated BTW... you know like on the starship enterprise/voyager....

The smartphones that people buy, people expect that they are simple to use too.  Easy to transfer all the stuff from one phone to another now a days.

I don't think people would neccessarily need to replace the console every year.  Only every few years or even 5 years.  But, never know once that "system" or "pattern" is happening and buyers start to follow it.

Either way, this wouldn't happen.  It probably should.

It's not my line of thinking its the consumer way of thinking. People are buying things when they feel the price is right for what they get, now the xbone looks like an underpowered console with a high price tag compared to the PS4, so people are buying the ps4. They feel they get more for their money, but if the xbone was to be 300$ would it be the same? Probably not, so thats why I say that pricing is the first thing to address with a game console, the right amount of power at the right price, not the features. Now for this generation winner pronostic, I leave it to you as I could care less who wins or not, I will just have fun watching the war and see what strategy each of them will use to get maketshares. 

Well, we will see if the price drop in Europe does anything for the XB1.  I am hoping that it does level things out, just to keep the XB1 somewhat competitive there.  I would really hope they do the same here in the US to get things back in balance too.

But, to your point, price is the real back breaker with the XB1.