[bostik]

One should also remember that NVidia does have organisational experience on designing and building CPUs[0].

They were a pretty big deal back in ~2010, and I have to admit I didn't know that Tegra was powering Nintendo Switch.

0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tegra

[goku12]

I had a Xolo Tegra Note 7 tablet (marketed in the US as EVGA Tegra Note 7) in around 2013. I preordered it as far as I remember. It had a Tegra 4 SoC with quad core Cortex A15 CPU and a 72 core GeForce GPU. Nvidia used to claim that it is the fastest SoC for mobile devices at the time.

To this day, it's the best mobile/Android device I ever owned. I don't know if it was the fastest, but it certainly was the best performing one I ever had. UI interactions were smooth, apps were fast on it, screen was bright, touch was perfect and still had long enough battery backup. The device felt very thin and light, but sturdy at the same time. It had a pleasant matte finish and a magnetic cover that lasted as long as the device did. It spolied the feel of later tablets for me.

It had only 1 GB RAM. We have much more powerful SoCs today. But nothing ever felt that smooth (iPhone is not considered). I don't know why it was so. Perhaps Android was light enough for it back then. Or it may have had a very good selection and integration of subcomponents. I was very disappointed when Nvidia discontinued the Tegra SoC family and tablets.

[miladyincontrol]

I'd argue their current CPUs aren't to be discounted either. Much as people love to crown Apple's M-series chips as the poster child of what arm can do, Nvidia's grace CPUs too trade blows with the best of the best.

It leaves one to wonder what could be if they had any appetite for devices more in the consumer realm of things.