Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are 6502 chips still used? What's the application?
> Are 6502 chips still used? Largely, no. I'm sure there's a few out there, but it's unusual. Embedded 8051 cores, on the other hand... we're probably never going to fully escape those.
8051 was once big in industrial applications like PLCs.
Somehow I doubt much has changed. In such applications, reliability + maturity of hw/sw ecosystem is much more important than raw speed or design innovations a competing architecture might bring to the table.
So 8051 based parts may see the occasional process shrink, addition of new peripherals, or new IC packages, I/O pin counts, operating voltage etc.
But I'd doubt any designer worth their salt would dare touch that core architecture unless their life depended on doing so. :-)