The chaotic "open-source handheld" once again reveals the importance of "cost performance".

If you only have a budget of about 500 yuan, but want to buy a device that can play games, what options do you have?

For most friends, the first thing that comes to mind may be to go to the second-hand market to buy an old mobile phone. At this price point, there are a lot of old flagships from 2019 to choose from, which are generally equipped with the Snapdragon 855 platform, with a storage combination of 6GB+128GB or 8GB+128GB, and some machines even have an OLED screen with 2K resolution and stereo dual Yang. Even now, the experience of playing games and watching videos will not be too bad.

Or you can choose to buy the "latest", relatively inexpensive open-source gaming handheld. According to relevant promotional materials, models in this price segment will be equipped with a quad-core Cortex-A9 or Cortex-A53 CPU, 1GB of RAM, and a 3.5-inch 640*480 resolution screen.

Although the configuration of the open-source handheld is a bit low, there will still be user choices.

Obviously, if you care about the "cost performance" of the hardware as much as we do, or the attitude of the manufacturer reflected in the profit margin of the product, then you will most likely choose a second-hand flagship phone. But that doesn't mean there aren't any reasons for fans of cheap "open-source handhelds."

For example, some people may say that the open-source handheld comes with a handle, and its operating experience will be better than the "glass rubbing" of the mobile phone screen.

Some friends may say that the plastic shell of the open source handheld is not afraid of falling, and the screen is often covered with a very thick, and many of them are non-fitting plastic covers. Even if it does break, the repair cost is low because the screens used in these machines tend to be very cheap.

Of course, when it comes to screens, some users might even think that when playing very retro games, the low-definition screens of open source handhelds will look closer to what they used to look like on older consoles and old TVs.

However, the cost and cost-effectiveness of these products are destined to be low.

Although we have no intention of refuting that since the open source handheld product objectively exists, it must have its own unique advantages, or can meet the needs of some consumers.

But if you only look at it from the perspective of product development and hardware manufacturing costs, or to put it more bluntly, from the perspective of "profit margin", then the vast majority of "open source handhelds" on the market, no matter which price segment the product is, can basically be said to be extremely cost-effective.

Why do we say that? The reason is simple, because they are "open source handhelds".

Specifically, there are two meanings here, one is that the operating system used by these products is mostly open-source and specially developed for game consoles. These systems come with a large number of already configured emulators, and there are dedicated hobbyists who maintain and update them, and the code for each update is available for free download.

On the other hand, for some models, even the circuit board layout they use, all the shell size parameters of the fuselage, etc., are also open source solutions. Theoretically, anyone who can buy the corresponding chips and can contact capable PCB and shell foundries can use these design drawings for commissioned processing, so as to create their own "open source handheld".

So this also means that in the most "extreme" case, the relevant manufacturers of "open source handhelds" do not need to design their own hardware or software, and only need to bear the most basic hardware costs to make products to sell.

If open-source handhelds often come with a large number of pre-configured game ROMs? Please, don't talk about blatant and massive sales of pirated copies.

The open-source handheld industry once again confirms the importance of "transparency".

Seeing this, some friends may have realized why we "criticize" the open source handheld product. Yes, compared to second-hand phones in the same price range, the vast majority of open-source handhelds are too profitable.

If you think about it further, you will realize that the disgraceful industry of "open source handhelds" can actually be said to be a possible embodiment of the "low transparency" of the consumer electronics industry.

After all, if you look at the most common publicity methods in the entire open source handheld field, you will find many familiar methods. For example, the low-configuration CPU is explained as "completely sufficient", the low-quality screen is advertised as "it can better restore the experience of old games", and the cheap shell is packaged with "drop resistance and low maintenance costs", etc.

So what does this mean? Let's assume that if there is no such obvious "hardware competition" in the current PC industry and mobile phone industry. Manufacturers do not compete for "cost performance", do not disclose such detailed hardware configurations, but only promote "my product experience is good", "my home system optimization is better", then the entire consumer electronics industry will eventually become the same as the current atmosphere of open source handhelds.

Is that a good thing? Apparently not. Therefore, even if some people always say that "it is useless to spell the configuration" and "what the xx brand sells is experience", the vast majority of consumers will eventually care about the hardware level and the actual cost and profit margin of the product. Not for other reasons, because only in this way can the interests of consumers be protected to the greatest extent, and will not become the victims of manufacturers selling at high prices and low allocation under the banner of "experience".

[The picture in this article comes from the Internet]