[throwaway2037]

Hmm... I struggle with your post. What about AMD vs Intel? Or TSMC / Samsung vs Intel? Intel is far weaker that it was 20 years ago, and chips are cheaper (inflation adjusted) and WAY faster 20 years later. Is that not a win? I feel like desktop computing is basically flying cars at this point. For 1500 USD, you can get 5GHz CPU, 32 GB RAM, 2 TB NVMe drive, reasonable GPU that is utterly light speed compared to 20 years ago. The first time I ever used an NVMe drive, I literally thought the Linux commands were not running correct because they finished so quickly!

Last one: I promise that I am not trolling here: What about psuedo-self-driving that Tesla and a few others have in cars now? On an expressway, it is pretty amazing -- hands off the wheel, talk with your friends with no worries of distraction.

[chongli]

I think the person you’re replying to was referring to the post-smartphone startup era. All those hardware companies you mentioned are older than dirt. None of them qualify as “disruptive, VC-backed startups” like Figma, Uber, or Airbnb.