Explain Like I'm Five

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If the IBM PC used an ARM (or related) CPU instead of the Intel 8088, would smartphones ultimately have sucked less? (self.explainlikeimfive)

submitted 6 months ago by url8 to c/explainlikeimfive

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Developers still continue to shaft anyone that isn't using an IBM PC compatible. But if the IBM PC was more closely related to the latest Nexus/Pixel device, then would the gaming experience on smartphones be any good?

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

Smartphone CPUs are designed to be small and cool.

PC CPUs are designed to be powerful. Power means bigger and hotter.

The two are at competing odds.

If you want a better gaming experience but a smaller form factor, you need something like a SteamDeck. Or a laptop.

It's not that developers don't know how to make mobile games. It's that the games we want to play tend to need a lot of power, and mobile CPUs (and devices) can have trouble providing that.

If you want to play old games (from when desktop CPUs were less powerful than modern phones' CPUs now), then you'll want to look into emulators.