The unnecessary path towards more power on mobile phones

If one looks at the strategy of the manufacturers, and particularly the platform manufactuers (ODM), one can't fail to notice that everybody assumes mobile phones will have more and more CPU power. The implicit model here is that of the PC, whose growth path is based on the exploitation of Moore's law, and the "virtuous" interaction of the chip and operating system: any increase in the power of the chip is used by the OS, which in turns calls for another increase in the chip's power, and son on. The reason why this was possible is that, for a long time, power was the bottleneck, and hence the source of value added, in the PC world. In the mobile world, it is rather different.

• On a PC, applications are chosen by the user, and the level of integration is very low. Which means that the overall performance (or yield) is low as well. Because, in absolute terms, a lot of power is available, and because programers (rightly) assume that ever more power will be available in the future, they don't bother optimizing their code, which further reduces the yield, further fueling the need for more power.

• On a mobile phone, more CPU power means more battery power, thus less autonomy. Saving CPU cycles allows to save the battery, and the autonomy of a new device is still a very important commercial argument. In addition, on a regular mobile phone, the user does not choose its applications, and they don't change. The fact that the OS and the applications are tightly integrated makes the platform relatively efficient (high yield). You don't change applications, you change your device.

Because the device is not supposed to anticipate a higher use of resources, it does not need to be so powerful. The virtuous circle, on the mobile phone, works towards a reduction in the increase rate of CPU power.

My experience suggests that a mid-range 2004/2005 mobile phone is able to run almost any kind of application as long as the application is optimized for the platform. More available power sometimes means less necessity for quality code. I remember Bill Gates saying at a very early age of Windows3 : "we can make that from a PC because our developers are able to write assembly code when assembly code is needed."

Indeed, you can play a perfect video on a Game Boy Advance (ARM @ 17Mhz, yes seventeen megahertz). Why then would you need a ARM11 at 200Mhz on a 3G phone to do the same, unless you mistake the mobile industry for the PC industry?