Well for one Steam Deck was sold out for like half a year, couldn't order one without being put on back order. Valve is not a big hardware manufacturer they made what was probably supposed to be a niche device in limited quantities with no TV marketing campaign, no retail version, and it's from everything I can tell outperformed their expectations. So much  so that Lenovo and ASUS are jumping in to make their own knock offs, no? If you're being copied that seems to tell me you have a popular product. 

An iPad already sells more than like the Switch + PS5 on a yearly basis, and iPhone lets not even compare because it's not even fair. 

If those devices can start playing AAA 3rd party games and that becomes normalized (and yes that's an if for sure), I mean sure it's hard to say that's just nothing. 

You're thoroughly missing the point. The consumer base at large has shown time and again to prefer dedicated mobile experiences over AAA experiences on their phones for various reasons already outlined ITT (controls, screen size, pricing, etc.). That's not going to change just because Apple is waving their specs dick around.

Because there haven't been any real AAA console style games for the most part that weren't dated. I think iPhone is not really the main play here either (for now). iPhone having PS4 tier capability is definitely impressive, but iPad is where it's gonna be at because iPad's can have the M-series chips, and those chips will be able to play PS5/XSX tier games as soon as maybe even now, but next year with the M3 chip, definitely. We're talking like future Resident Evils, Monster Hunter, GTA6 even, NBA 2K console version, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth can run on this chip type of thing. 

On a large screen display. That's easy and lightweight to put in your bag. With any controller you want. 

If that's where we're headed, then comparing that to like what the iPhone was in 2014, it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It's like saying the Wii U already proved the Switch concept a failure, well the details matter a heckuva lot in the reality of that. Just like actual portability and a design that didn't look like a Fisher Price kids tablet made a huge difference for the Switch, having mobile chips that run actual next gen games (and many of them, not just like 1 port that looks terrible) and a porting tool that streamlines the port process make significant differences. 

The iPhone aspect of it I think is going to be more of a "neat" extra, like you buy the game primarily to play on your M-series Apple device at high fidelity (like an iPad or Macbook or Mac mini or maybe even an AppleTV type console), and the iPhone version you have for free and is always in your pocket. That's a very cool ecosystem feature they can boast because people take their phones everywhere with them. 

My mom owns an iPhone and iPad. Can't wait to see her turn into a hardcore gamer.

Either way hardware announcements are always overhyped.  I remember when the ps3 cell was a super computer that was going to change the world.

Gaming actually is really the only thing that makes sense for Apple.

They took control of their chip design much moreso about 7 years ago and committed hard to making the most powerful mobile processors possible because they were in a heated race with Android/Snapdragon, and largely ... they won. Fancy new chips drive hardware sales, even with the Macbook, the introduction of the M1 chip caused Macbook sales to skyrocket:

https://www.macrumors.com/2021/01/19/mac-sales-skyrocketing-after-m1-launch/

So they can't stop that train and won't stop it, it keeps people wanting to continually upgrade their products which is key to Apple's entire business. There's only so much you can do with the design of a phone where the face of the device is entirely a screen.

But on the other hand these processors are so powerful, they are ridiculously overpowered for the average use case scenarios. No one really needs an A17 Bionic chip that can run PS4 games for a freaking phone. Apple's A-processors from like 2-3 generations ago can do everything you need to do on a smartphone (web browsing, emails, social media, playing Candy Crush) without breaking a sweat even with a high resolution display.

The M-series chips are ridiculously overpowered for an iPad even moreso. Even for "Pro" Macbook users, the M1/M2 chips can edit 4K video just fine and dandy, but M3 is going to be a large improvement it looks like ... who are they even making these laptops for? The 30,000 people on the planet who need to edit multiple 8K video streams on a laptop for some reason? How many video editors who need to cut RED raw or 8K footage are even out there? lol. It's a niche of a niche market.

The only real mass market application for processors that are that powerful and will continue to get more and more powerful every year is well ... high end AAA gaming.

I think Apple realized this, this is why all of the sudden Hideo Kojima and Capcom and Ubisoft execs are showing up in Apple events and they're doing things like the Game Porting Toolkit for developers. Gaming performance is the only realistic use case for having like a 4.5 TFLOP tablet or 2 TFLOP phone but Apple needs to keep the sales hook of "this year's version is 20% faster than last year!" to maintain their sales volume.

I'll never take mobile gaming seriously. Imagine trying to game on the glass slabs lol.

nobody does except soundwave he dreams of a no home console future lol.

Now put an OLED display on there and an M3 chip both which are slated to come next year ... I mean you don't have to imagine very hard. 

If developers make games that could be one hell of a gaming rig that can travel. On an airplane or bus? Sure. 

Like I said, the chips going into these iPads (even iPhones) are way, way too powerful for just smart OS tasks like web browsing and video chatting. AAA gaming, not little mobile gaming, is the only thing that can push the processors Apple is making (well that and like 4K per eye VR) which isn't a niche. 

If developers start porting all their newer games, I'd honestly prefer this setup to a Steam Deck type of thing. Bigger display, with OLED it's going to be a stunning experience. 

Agreed for me.  I personally rarely game on the go.  My Switch is docked 99% of the time.  And when I do game portable mode it isn't Tears or Bayo 3, but rather Captain Toad.   Most games don't work on a tiny screen with small controls.  

I'll be sticking with my 55 OLED Dolby atmos setup.  But too each their.  Options exist in the market place so people can pick their poison.  None of the big AAA are in trouble over this announcement.  I always laugh when people immediately assume too much from an announcement.

Honest question: what is the point then of shit posting in threads where you claim to have zero interest but keep coming back over and over again because someone else might be interested in something you're not? Gate keeping galore. You're really that insecure that you can't handle other people being excited in something that maybe you're not and you feel you have to "police" all these threads, huh. 

Seriously, no wonder this board has stagnated and not grown for shit in 10 years.