I have to take your word for it. Pretty sure it's not "zero sum" for cost, though. I do think a move from 1 Gbe to 2.5 GbE for standard switch ports will happen at some point. OTOH, given the relatively low usage of Ethernet ports by consumers, maybe not.
I can't argue that 5 GbE will be mainstream. NETGEAR RAX120, Linksys MR7500 and Linksys MX8500 are the only consumer routers/mesh systems I've run across. I'm just saying it's a better performance match for what the radios can produce.
As I only have Intel pricing, I can tell that each PHY is less than 70 cents more expensive. Obviously the switch IC is likely to add another $5-10 to that, but on a $1,500 kit like this...
Right, so two Linksys products in addition to the one from Netgear, that's not going to take the 5Gbps standard anywhere.
The radio matching makes sense, but I would rather see 10Gbps ports, especially as once again, on a product at this price point, it's not a huge price difference, or at least wasn't when Aquantia was running things and it doesn't look like Marvell has changed that much, based on add-in card pricing. In fact, the new AQC113 series should be cheaper for them to make compared to the AQC107.
Expect most new motherboards for Intel's 12th generation of Core processors to feature 2.5Gbps as standard, except the budget models, as it's a selling point for the motherboard makers. Realtek is likely to be cheaper than Intel anyhow, so we're most likely looking at less than $2 per chip from them, as Intel charges $2.40 and that's list price.
Anyhow, it is what it is, but hopefully someone will come up with a product for us "hardcore" users
