... is for the apps where the chip is "SOMETHING with a processor" and the SOMETHING is more important than the processor.

Case in point the IR washing machine controllers, the Nordic RF stuff, the Cybernetic dual port memory from a PC bus to a processor, the .....

another future is the 6-12 pin devices that do ONE thing and do it well.

Much of the demise of the '51 in the areas where it will defenetely be the best and still lose will be the 'developments' by those that can not imagine 'blinky' without a RTOS