Why is the Xbox One priced higher than the PS4?

[drkohler]

fillet said:

ethomaz said:
1. APU... the MS APU is close to 50% bigger than PS4 APU and it is more complex... so way more expensive.... and there are relates about low yields (that makes the chips over more expensive).

2. Kinect.

I didn't know about the different APU, thought that it was just that Microsoft was using an inferior version of the same base generation APU, like say a 7950 vs a 7970 graphics card.

1. The 7950 and 7970 are identical gpu chips. One is clocked lower with fewer active units.
No outsider knows the die sizes of the two APUs or their intrinsic complexities. Both contain "additional goodies" that make them larger than just a generic cpu/gpu combo. On XBox side, we have 32M of esram which probably needs 80mm^2 as a rough guess, but then we have more cu units in the PS4 gpu that offset some of the esram space.  Then add goodies left and right, and overall die sizes essentially become guesswork. But it is highly unlikely there is a 50% difference in die sizes.

2 A few numbers just for amusement. In the early 1980, the research group I was working with was thinking of buying a tof camera. Price $40'000 for a 32*16 (or less? - can't remember) pixels camera. Around 2000, a 160*160 tof camera cost around $10'000. In 2010, a 320*160 camera still cost around $6000. Right now, the cheapest tof chip I found is around $500 for 320*160 pixels (bought in bulk quantities). The Kinect2 has a tof camera with 500*400 pixels (rumoured and demos seem to confirm that) - you'd certainly have to fork over $1000 for getting such a chip from a company. How MS has managed it i can only speculate, no more. If MS ever brings out Kinect2 solo kits for under $500, they will be bought up in hoardes by every research group who ever thought of using a tof camera.