mrt2 Posted April 22, 2011 Report Share Posted April 22, 2011 Ok so my logic is this iPhones, Android Phones, and iPads etc... are all pretty much sub $1000 depending on the amount of internal storage and yet they are 10X as powerful as the processing power in even the top flagship headunit that's out. Yet the Head Units have awful interfaces, and are super expensive... Why is this? It can't be the audio connections as those shouldn't cost anymore than $100 total in part etc.. iPads cost under $400 to make and yet they would kill any head unit in interface and speed etc... so what's the deal? Why hasn't a company like Apple or Microsoft or Google taken on this Market? Why can't Head Unit manufacturers step their game up? I just don't get it... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Newman Posted April 22, 2011 Report Share Posted April 22, 2011 A few things come to mind. 1) Automotive electronics cannot be compared to others because your iPad doesn't spend 24 hours a day outside in below freezing and 100+ degree temperatures all while being bounced around by the vibrations on the highway. im sure that adds to the equation. 2) it may also come down to the market for a particular item. there are millions of iphones out there while Pioneer nav systems probably only number in the tens of thousands. if pioneer were selling as many navs as apple is selling iphones the costs would definitely drop. 3) there is the costs of the extra hardware like radio tuners, CD players, RCA outputs, etc. while cost might be minimal they are requirements that an iphone or ipad doesnt have. 4) since a navigation headunit is much much larger and heavier than an iphone or ipad the transportation costs will be greater. shipping 1000 navigations from japan may take an entire container or more whereas shipping 1000 iphones may take few pallets. 5) further, the costs of an iphone is subsidised by the money you pay for service from AT&T or Verizon. they can afford to "lose" money on the device if they are going to make substantially more from the serivce over the longrun. there is no source of recurring income for headunit manufactuers. while i wish they didnt cost as much as they do i'm sure there are plenty of reasons for it. if Pioneer could sell an impressive nav for $499 and still make a prodit im sure they would. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mrt2 Posted April 26, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 26, 2011 That MAY account for the cost but what about the quality? What about the low specced processor/graphics processing you get for the cost you're paying. BTW my friends iPad in dash conversion is holding up nicely in varying weather conditions and bounced around etc... so I'm not sure this has much to do with cost of HU's. Also, the iPod touches have a radio tuner in them so I also don't see this accounting for much cost... however heft is definitely a factor as you've laid it out as well as size. I just don't get why for the money we are paying, the HU manufacturers can't use modern technology (CPU and GFX) in their headunits... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
VBLUE42 Posted April 27, 2011 Report Share Posted April 27, 2011 Well not long ago there wasn't anything in a mobile platform that offered any real technology. The release of the iPhone changed all of that for the better for everyone. But you are right, head units are far behind where they should be in the world of technology. 2012 will be the year however for a huge push in technology in mobile car audio I have a sneaking suspicion. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ZoOmZoOmPoW Posted April 27, 2011 Report Share Posted April 27, 2011 Amen! I usually dream about that. Capacitive screen, Google maps navigation, voice control, good graphics for visualizer, etc... HU will catch up sooner or later... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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