It's not really needed until you realize what Apple trying to do with iOS. They are trying to eat up the marketshare of Nintendo and Sony further with A5-equipped devices. Back in 2009, Apple made a massive leap from the older PowerVR MBX-lite to the then-new SGX535. The SGX535 was multiple times faster than the older chip and it was turned out to be an excellent decision as the chip lasted two generations and eventually spawned some very fine visuals in titles like the Infinity Blade.
A production planning is a process of compromise and sacrifice, and I think the fact Apple chose to have such fast GPU should tell people that they are very serious about furthering their gaming prowess in the coming years.
The truly intriguing part, and I think it'll happen sooner or later, is when Apple pumps up their Apple TV with app store and some bluetooth-enabled controllers for games. It obviously won't as good as true game consoles, but at $100 and with a huge legion of potential developers, I would be very scared if I was Nintendo.
I've been saying for years and years, I wish Nintendo would stop making hardware and do what they do best, Software.
They would make a killing producing their Titles, for PS3, XBox, Android, iOS, Windows, OS X machines.