Are these same kind of techniques applicable to mobile devices or is the hardware just not there yet? I've always wondered about whether console development and mobile development have converged or not yet.
Mobile devices have long-since surpassed the GameCube generation of consoles, and in some ways are past the Xbox 360/PS3 generation. Mobile devices have architecturally modern GPUs, and only lack in core count and clock speed (given the lower TDP than consoles).