OBLAMA2009
Diamond Member
- Apr 17, 2008
- 6,574
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ARM SoCs are being moved to newer processes. I think the A5 is on 45nm bulk, but the next SoC is probably going to be on a 28nm process. That's going to allow them to cram in the power necessary to drive a graphics display like that and not have the costs spiral out of control.
Apple also invested several billion into display manufacturers this last year. They've already spent the money to make sure that their suppliers can give them a large number of these panels at a reasonable cost.
It might eat into Apple's profit margin a little, but they'll probably eat the costs if they can deliver a tablet that no other competitor can touch for at least eight months.
they already have a tablet that is vastly outselling the competition, they dont really need an upgrade anytime soon. tablets are a maturing form factor, it only makes sense to try to increase profits by releasing a tablet as a "pro" version and charging a lot more for it, just like the do with laptops. they dont need to be giving out 2200x1900 retinas to the average customer for $500