[CNET] Nvidia to stop focusing on Smartphones

[Mondozei]

So after the epic flop of Tegra 4, Nvidia is now demolishing their entire smartphone stakeout.

CNET have done an extensive Q&A with their CEO and he all but throws in the towel on smartphones. While he didn't in theory rule out a chip in the future for the ultra-high end segment, considering that the smartphone market is now mature and the growth is coming from the low-to-midrange segment, it is highly unlikely.

It's notable that tablets are a bit more in the air, which was confirmed by Tegra K1's prescence in the MiPad from Xiaomi, too.

Nvidia's focus is now going to be on cars and gaming for major growth areas.

 

[Mondozei]

Can't say I'm too surprised by these news. The K1 was impressive from a GPU standpoint but it didn't have integrated LTE, which is a must for most SoC's(part of the reason why Snapdragon 805 is being skipped by many, it doesn't have one either).

It seems that the old order of Qualcomm at the top and the Chinese firms at the bottom(Mediatek, Allwinner etc) will remain for the time being. Intel, Nvidia, AMD and the rest haven't done great. Possibly Intel as an exception in tablets.

 

[skriefal]

Nvidia's focus is now going to be on cars and gaming for major growth areas.

Cars? Good luck with that one.

 

[Ravynmagi]

Kinda weird the Tegra 2 was the worst SoC but seemed to be found in a lot more devices. The Tegra 3 and 4, which I never saw in any phones in the US, seemed like much improved SoCs, but had bad timing or something. Were a little late or came between design cycles or something.

I'm kinda surprised Nvidia is giving up so quickly on phones. I don't think it's good to for Qualcomm to have an Intel like monopoly on ARM chips, with Mediatek being the AMD like bottom feeder.

 

[poofyhairguy]

If I remember the roadmap the upcoming Tegra SoCs were to have a custom ARM CPU ala Apple and Qualcomm. Is part of this backing out admitting that they couldn't deliver on a design on a CPU that was competitive?

 

[TreVader]

Unsurprising. From the looks of K1 they weren't getting very far.


I would be worried about nvidia if I were an investor. They seem to keep old designs until they're very long in the tooth and they don't seem to focus enough on good hardware design as AMD. I think they're actually going to be in trouble come 20nm

 

[s44]

I would be worried about nvidia if I were an investor. They seem to keep old designs until they're very long in the tooth and they don't seem to focus enough on good hardware design as AMD. I think they're actually going to be in trouble come 20nm

Lol, keep the team red nonsense over in VC.

 

[Bateluer]

Kinda weird the Tegra 2 was the worst SoC but seemed to be found in a lot more devices.

I think that was a matter of timing more than anything. Tegra 2 won a ton of design wins and was selected for the HoneyComb reference platform before its deficiencies and problems were well known. Then it all came to light, but TI's OMAP4 and Samsung's updated Exynos parts weren't available yet, so it was Tegra 2 or don't release at all.

Nvidia burned so many bridges with Tegra 1, 2, and 3, that almost nobody wanted to bite on Tegra 4.

Lol, keep the team red nonsense over in VC.

He's kinda right. Nvidia's future doesn't look particularly rosy right now. Outside of compute and high end gaming cards, they don't have much else. They don't have the CPU technology that Intel, Qualcomm, or even AMD do; nor are they able to integrate their GPUs on die like QC/Intel/AMD can. Gaming for the next several years is going to be AMD driven. Nvidia's going to be in for a rocky couple of years.

 

[TreVader]

Lol, keep the team red nonsense over in VC.

I'm not talking about AMD v nvidia, this isn't necessarily good for AMD at all. I'm saying nvidia in 2013/14 has been through a string of embarrassments and this is just the latest.


K1 in many ways was very smart but in others and in execution Tegra is a dismal failure. I'm glad they're pulling out before Tegra 6

 

[npaladin-2000]

Not surprising at all, the really juicy, growing market is in smartphones, and NVIDIA has gotten zero traction there, mostly due to a lack of on-chip LTE modems. The Icera purchase was too little too late. It's too bad, they do make great GPUs.

 

[WelshBloke]

Nvidia were focusing on smartphones? Really?