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Apple to release Handheld Console to compete with the Switch?

tkitch

I think this rumor is fake, but at the same time I’ve been wondering something.

 

Suppose Apple delivers a user experience in a VR/AR HMD that’s as revolutionary as the iPhone in 2007.

 

Would AAA game developers finally flock to Apple at that point? Like mobile gaming developers flocked to the iOS ecosystem back then. 

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2 things are big in this world.

 

Mobility (both personal and taxi/deliveries) and gaming.

 

Apple (the Walmart of consumer electronics) ought to do something about one or both.

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I think this would make complete sense for apple to do, but I’m not sure that apple will. Since they will have all their devices running on the same architecture it will actually make sense for developers to port their game to the device since it would also effectively be ported to the iPad, iPhone, Mac, and Apple TV. 

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Measure twice, cut the wafer once.
 

Design once, use the silicon in as many products as possible.

 

That’s Apple’s approach to chip making.

 

A gaming console using the same silicon as Macs/iPhones/iPads would definitely be yet another way to offset the costs of custom chip manufacturing. 

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This sounds like hooey to me....but I could see more development/support for controllers coming to IOS....compatability with XBox and PS controllers...including the newest PS5 one have been key bullet points for iOs and especially AppleTV, so expanding that would make sense.  I don't see Apple developing their own controllers, THOUGH they DO do a lot of UI testing and research, so maybe they could have stumbled onto the actual ultimate way to control games.

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7 hours ago, Kisai said:

a $2000 iphone

You might want to recheck Apple's pricing and range of available phones. C'mon, I know your agenda but this is ridiculous.

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11 hours ago, SlidewaysZ said:

No literally just no. Apple will just make it locked down with exclusives. Which makes me really annoyed since Microsoft and Sony are finally moving away from the console wars and moving towards cross play. Heck even Nintendo made apps to put their games on other devices. 

Apple really does not do software exclusives even games that have been bankrolled by apple to be in apple arcade are permitted to ship on other consoles, the exclusives is only to iOS. Many Apple arade games are on stream and even on PS and Xbox.  

 

13 hours ago, TetraSky said:

Unless they price this aggressively (which doesn't match their M.O. thus far), I don't expect it to get a huge player game.

If it does come out, I'm predicting it will likely just be an iOS-lite device, stripped down to the bare minimum for games and primarily run mobile games with possibly an x86 emulator for specific PC games that Apple decided we could get.

Apple could price it quite aggressively, they have a large history of SoCs (from older iPhones) that are each more powerful than the Switch or Steam Dec. 

If apple wanted to support x86 translation (apple are not doing emulation) (they absolutely could) and even use proton (with a metal backend) they could also bring over many more PC games quite easily.  However to support x86 they would need to at least use an M1 (since the older SoCs did not have all the dark magic that lets apple do this with very little overhead.  However they could use a binned M1 with less working CPU cores (all the M1s we have seen ship have had the full set of Perfomance cores running perfectly but there will have been units coming of the production line with 1 or 2 defective cpu cores... might be perfect for a lower cost device were 2 or 3 M1 perfomance cores is still more power than most gaming PC cpus can dream of). 

Apple have been sinking a LOT of $$ into Apple Arcade but since they are mostly funding games from idea stage any large title would not have shipped yet (AAA titles take years to make) so I think it is very possible that we do see a few large titles shipping for apple platforms in the next few years as these $ mature (the gaming industry is very good at keeping secrets).  Like for the other consoles content will be king, and the proven way to get content is to pay for it (sony, MS do it and apple have a bigger bank account by a long way) just look at how much they are throwing behind AppleTV+ they are willing to spend a good % of their savings on these projects as they need to find new revenue sources to make investor happy. (its worth putting billions into trying out gaming). 

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Console hardware is a razor thin margin business, where profit comes from software, we all know the app store is a money printer for Apple at this point so they have that side covered but i don't see them making a piece of hardware to be sold almost at cost to compete, but this is Apple we're talking about so they could totally get away with selling an $800 console to the market, be it portable or stationary. although if the console is Switch like, the only thing i can see them make is grab an iPad and put controllers on the narrow sides of it.

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3 hours ago, saltycaramel said:

A gaming console using the same silicon as Macs/iPhones/iPads would definitely be yet another way to offset the costs of custom chip manufacturing. 

I think games console would likely not need a chip that has all the cpu cores fully functional it would be a perfect place for apple to use-up M1 (or higher end) chips that have 1 defective cpu core. 

 

 

4 hours ago, saltycaramel said:

Would AAA game developers finally flock to Apple at that point? Like mobile gaming developers flocked to the iOS ecosystem back then. 

The way to get AAA devs to look at your platform is to offer them $$$ investment into their game ideas, apple have been spending big on apple arcade but big games take a long time so we should not expect to see any big titles for another few years.

 

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The success of something like this entirely depends on how many games they can get ported to it. We'll see if they have the level of influence Nintendo can wield in this regard...

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16 hours ago, SlidewaysZ said:

No literally just no. Apple will just make it locked down with exclusives. Which makes me really annoyed since Microsoft and Sony are finally moving away from the console wars and moving towards cross play. Heck even Nintendo made apps to put their games on other devices. 

apple is shit, overpriced phones, overpriced hardware overall, locked down to all hell, the steam deck is the real switch competitor, it runs on GNU/Linux They give you the RIGHT TO OPEN YOU OWN PRODUCT which shouldn't be new, but it is. steam is the one thing that can take down the switch.

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7 hours ago, Dracarris said:

You might want to recheck Apple's pricing and range of available phones. C'mon, I know your agenda but this is ridiculous.

How many people buy "the crappiest" version of a console? Nobody does.

 

image.png.71263ed9e3b2fbef76d5f716b939a45c.png

 

I'm just illustrating the point that Apple iPhones are more than a desktop computer or a game console. Game consoles rightfully get ridiculed for being "underpowered" but yet they tend to get the better version of games because the device hardware is consistent. PC's range from Potato's that are far weaker than current gen consoles, to several times more powerful, yet the games will rarely get anything more than a resolution slider to take advantage of it.

 

Compare that to the cheapest option which is the iPad mini.

 

image.png.963f45cf017972fa9b83588e74726dc1.png

 

That's still more expensive than a Nintendo Switch, and roughly on par with a PS5, assuming you could find one.

image.png.8ecf349c34e502f87e9a3f8cf380cbee.png

Note, Canadian prices.

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7 minutes ago, HenrySalayne said:

But will it run Crysis Fortnite?

only if apple unbans it! 

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1 hour ago, Kisai said:

How many people buy "the crappiest" version of a console? Nobody does.

You missed two important points:

- Many do

- Even the most "crappy" iphones run the respective flagship silicon at launch

 

There is the

  • 13 Pro Max for 1100 - 1600
  • 13 Pro for 1000 - 1500
  • 13 for 800 - 1100
  • 13 Mini for 700 - 1000
  • 12 for 700 - 850
  • 12 Mini for 600 - 750

All of which would qualify more than enough for gaming. Now tell me again, which iPhone costs 2000$? Evem the 13 Pro Max with an insane 1TB of storage is 400$ away from what you claim. Choosing the much more sensible 512GB variant which is still the 2nd most expensive iPhone, we move to 1300$ or 700$ aka 35% less than what you claim.

 

I excluded the SE 2020 for 400 - 450 which would still game very very fine, but according to you is crappy. So if a parent wants to buy their kids an iphone and is on a budget, they can spend less than 1/4 of what you claimed.

 

Edit: Ah cool, you went for Canadian $ to arrive at higher looking numbers. And then you chose the two most expensive models to get to the CAD 2000 mark. Number 3 would even in CAD come down to 1700. But I guess 95% of iphone sales are Pro Max models with the highest two capacities and the remaining models only for show?

 

In Hungarian Forint, the 13 Pro Max with 1 TB costs almost 700.000. How can Apple charge 700k for a phone, are they crazy? That's almost a million!!!

 

Please don't spread misinformation. Nobody needs to spend anywhere near 2k$ to buy their kid an iphone, no matter what $ you refer to.

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On 10/14/2021 at 6:36 PM, Arika S said:

 

BULL. SHIT.

Even if it were possible, who would even want that much power on a mobile device? You aren't going to notice nearly as much detail as the system is pushing out, I'd much rather take a slower device with lower screen resolution that has a much longer battery life

 

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On 10/14/2021 at 8:39 PM, comander said:

Wouldn't be that hard to make a thicker ipad with a controller and more battery built in that practically requires a $10-20/month subscription. 

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Would be a complete waste of money. Pointless trying to enter an ultra-competitive marketplace with a relatively small marketshare when they are completely dominating with their products and making enormous profits. 

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About the pricing argument.

 

Apple devices without a pricey camera system and without OLED aren’t that pricey.

 

The new iPad Mini has literally the fastest smartphone SoC in the world and it costs 499$.
 

I guess an handheld console would be in that ballpark. 

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On 10/16/2021 at 4:03 AM, saltycaramel said:

About the pricing argument.

 

Apple devices without a pricey camera system and without OLED aren’t that pricey.

 

The new iPad Mini has literally the fastest smartphone SoC in the world and it costs 499$.
 

I guess an handheld console would be in that ballpark. 

And honestly, people would pay 5-600$ for an apple handheld console, with a halfway decent screen.  

 

(I wouldn't, but apple fans probably would)

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Don't they already have one? It's called the iPod Touch. It's not like people buy iPods to listen to music anymore. In fact, Apple never seemed to think it was ever for serious music listening. It was more of an apps machine first. 

 

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a) I don't believe that rumor

 

b) !IF! Linux gaming takes of as suggested on a recent WAN show (Steamdeack + the ClusterHug Windows11 seems to be) it is only 1 small step for AAA games developers to do a OSX/i(Pad)OS port

 

c) up until recently only higher end iMacs, MBP and MPros had enough GPU to make gaming a thing, everything consumer was either on really weak GPUs or none at all (Intel)

 

d) M1 changed that, 699 for a basic MacMini try to buy any new parts PC that can beat that in performance (setting SW support aside) and you have to cut corners quite a bit

 

e) there is a point when it is "good enough" for most people. Just today I hooked my iPadMini to a 4k monitor (running at the 2266×1488 of the iPad) started Genshin Impact and the result was "good enough" in terms of GFX. Surely not worse than running RiseOfTheTombRaider on my 2010MPro (6 cores, Radeon R9 280) and that is the baseline phone chip with a little bit of extra thermal headroom

 

 

-> Mxxx based Macs will sell like sliced bread for the forseeable future, all of them good enough for decent gaming and harder to ignore with every % of marketshare gained.

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Yeah the dirty little secret about the Mx Macs is that for the first time in decades even the consumer grade lower end Macs have a gaming-capable GPU. (the M2 Macbook Airs next year will see a bigger improvement in the GPU than in the CPU, compared to the M1)

 

This is a new situation and we’ll see how it changes the balance of power in gaming development for this or that platform.

 

The M2 with 10 GPU cores (up from 8 in the M1) and the new better GPU of the A15 generation will be a great baseline for the coming years. In every 999$ Macbook Air. That’s unheard of.

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