Mikes Rant – Christmas Edition – 5 Tech Predictions For 2020

I’m rather fond of my ‘Mikes Rant’ posts. Largely because it often allows me to spread my wings and make some very bold (and mildly controversial) statements about a wide variety of subjects. It is, after all, an opinion piece. As such, if you have a problem with the content, then it’s with me very specifically, and not eTeknix as a whole.

I have, however, made it something of a tradition now each Christmas/New Year to make a number of predictions based on what I think will happen throughout the next year. I’m not always right, but I’m surprisingly better at it than you might think!

Mikes Rant – 5 Tech Predictions for 2020

So, in this list, I’m going to be looking at 5 things that I think are going to be big news in the tech world throughout 2020. I’ve tried to not be too obvious and, wherever possible, putting myself out on some pretty big limbs.

Time to polish up my crystal balls and let you know what I think. What does 2020 have in store?…

AMD Will Achieve A 45%+ Desktop CPU Market Share

Ok, so I’m coming out with a pretty bold one here, but hear me out. It’s no secret that since the release of Ryzen back in 2017, AMD has (slowly but surely) been making significant inroads into Intel’s market share dominance.

In fact, at the time of writing the figure is currently floating around 30%. Now, Intel does have more than a few CPU releases planned for the year, but it’s pretty clear than many of the most ardent Intel fans have been swayed over to AMD thanks to its better performance at, comparatively, a much better price point.

Admittedly, a lot of this may ride on just how good or bad Intel’s releases will be. It’s also a factor of interest as to whether AMD does release 4th-generation Ryzen processors at some point. I’m just going to say it though, Team Red has every possibility of getting back to market share levels not seen for over 13 years.

Intel’s First Consumer GPU will Beat Both AMD and Nvidia for Gaming

Intel is well on track to release its first consumer graphics cards in 2020. This will likely first come with the release of more industrial-based models, but make no bones about it, Intel is planning on going toe to toe with AMD and Nvidia in the gaming graphics card market.

In terms of resources, opportunity, and desire, they were (pretty much) the only company that could make an effective entry at the moment. I’m going to take this a step further, however. I don’t think that they’re going to come out timidly here. I think, whatever they release first on a consumer level, is going to be pretty amazing. 7nm and hardware-based ray-tracing… it has all the key perks that AMD and Nvidia separately have.

Put simply, I think it’s going to be better than Nvidia and AMD and if not, at least as good.

Sony’s PS5 Will Win The Christmas Console War

With both Sony and Microsoft confirming the release of their next-gen consoles for the ‘holidays 2020’ (which means Christmas) one of the biggest talking points of the year will be which system will win the next console war.

While it might sound a bit lazy (and obvious) to pick Sony’s PS5, there is a lot of history to back this up. For example, the PS4 massively outsold the Xbox. Although exact figures are not known, it’s believed to be roughly on a 3/1 scale. This does, however, highlight the key point, consumers are often very loyal to brands. As such, I can’t see Microsoft ever clawing its market share back unless its system is spectacularly better than Sony’s or, alternatively, it’s remarkably cheaper.

Japan is Going to Reveal Some Amazing Tech at the Olympic

This is a bit of a strange choice, but as well all know, Japan is the home of high-tech products. Admittedly, they may (mostly) end up being manufactured in Taiwan, but you get the idea.

With the Summer Olympics set to be held in Tokyo, we’ve already seen some hints that we can expect big things being revealed there from the tech world. AI’s, robots, and all other manner of amazing things.

Even if you’re not a fan of athletics, you’re not going to want to miss this opening ceremony. I’m certain it’s going to be mind-blowing!

GameStop (US) or Game (UK) will go Bust

GameStop in America and Game in the UK are both very similar companies. They primarily conduct business as highstreet gaming retailers and they’re both struggling to cope as the market transitions more to digital downloads.

Both companies have seen a lot of ups and (mostly) downs over the last few years, but I can’t help but feel that (one way or another) something is going to give in 2020. Yes, I see at least one (and possibly both) of these companies going bankrupt.

It’s not a prediction I make with any glee as this will obviously result in a lot of job losses. Based on the decisions they’ve made to keep the brands going, however, I just don’t see them surviving the year. There are already rumors that both Microsoft and Sony are not going to offer their next-gen consoles to GameStop. At least, not on a ‘sale or return’ status directly due to the companies poor financial state.

They might surprise me by just about clinging on until 2021, but let’s be real. As they currently operate, both stores are on life support at the moment.

Mikes Rant – Christmas Edition – What Do You Think?

Well, there you have it, my 5 predictions for 2020, but what do you think? – Do you think I’m going to be proven to be mostly right or mostly wrong? Have I gone a bit mad on a few of them? – Let us know what you think in the comments!

If you enjoyed Mikes Rant, you can check out more via the link here – Alternatively, for more of his Christmas related rantiness, check out the link here! They’ll be a new rant (nearly) every day between Christmas and New Year!