I get technology is always advancing, but I do wonder what the landscape will look like in 10 years when a lot of these patents start to expire. As a consumer, it feels like we have been hitting diminishing returns for a while now.
Sure, they will have released 11G, and all of the ads will tell me how vital it is the government can track me with millimeter precision, but I think all of my needs were already met with a five+ year old device.
I have a lot of hope the open core movement is going to help, but right now it's still bonkers hard and expensive & special to attach a good modern bus to a chip. Having ram or USB3+ or PCIe or soon CXL - much less BT or wifi! - is a totally different kind of feat that open silicon seems far off from. The LiteX folks come to mind as deserving as big nod here but I think mainly fpga not basic targeting. A connected computer still feels so far off.
It's pretty interesting seeing some plateau forming commercially. The new Intel n100 - n30p chips look awesome. But they compete with mini-pc systems built around 20-65W desktop chips from 3-10 years ago that have a huge cheap second hand market. And they are a bit more power efficient but not vastly, producing similar power. But, good news, Intel & oems can have new systems using these chips on the market for competitive prices. Being able to compete with your own secondary market is a great sign to me.
Sure, they will have released 11G, and all of the ads will tell me how vital it is the government can track me with millimeter precision, but I think all of my needs were already met with a five+ year old device.