Intel Has a 48-Core Chip for Smartphones and Tablets
Intel has developed a prototype of a 48-core processor for smartphones. Before you ask: No, you can't buy a 48-core smartphone next year.
Intel apparently has the chip running in its labs in Barcelona, Spain and is reportedly capable of running different apps on different cores. Today, Intel's smartphone processor works with a single core and even the ARM rivals run with a measly four cores. 48 cores, of course, could open completely opportunities what a smartphone could accomplish.
A scientist from Intel's labs told Computerworld that such a processor could, "for instance, be encrypting an email while also working on other power-intensive apps at the same time." Or, in a dynamic environment, some cores could be running at higher clock speeds to provide high performance, while other cores could be performing basic tasks a much lower clock speeds and open the door to much more granular power saving techniques. The number of cores may not be so much of a problem than the fabric that is connecting the cores as well as the software that is managing such a chip.
Intel's CTO Justin Rattner was more optimistic about the introduction date of such a processor than the researcher himself, who predicted a 10-year time frame. Rattner told Computerworld that it could be "much sooner". According to the executive, techniques such as "speech recognition and augmented reality will push the need for more computational power."

More than likely they're emulating the new design in a FPGA of some sort for debugging / testing, hence the giant heatsink / fan and boatloads of support hardware.
More than likely they're emulating the new design in a FPGA of some sort for debugging / testing, hence the giant heatsink / fan and boatloads of support hardware.
... that could make for some akward moments in the office.
The processor itself is either underneath the small fan on the bottom(which may or may not be a south/northbridge chip) or it is sitting on a module that is on the bottom right hand corner of the picture.
More than likely its on that module.
the cloud... i can honestly see home pc development stopping soonish to push cloud...
i dont like that at all, but it will happen.
Yeah but unless the security is vastly improved it will die as well when it will be headline after headline that site after site is hacked and peoples knowledge involving having convenient data available 24/7 has its risks. The more eggs in one basket the bigger the risk it attracts the wrong attentions. Its simple math!
Yeah, I give props to any company cramming that many cores on a single die, its cool from an engineering point of view, but when it comes to performance, no smartphone or tablet OS is able to use that many cores. The limitation now lies on the software aspect.
Until there is a way to HANDLE those cores, putting so many on a die is irrelevant, and a feat that has been reached before by both Intel and AMD.
Ok, got that out of the way, Cool!
if you read the news, or watch ANYTHING on tv, you realise that normal people barely know how to breath they are so stupid.
many people think a cellphone camera is good enough for important pictures
and how many people use the earbuds that come with an ipod
people dont care at all about quality anymore so long as it works.
now, what is most peoples data?
nothing important, sure the vulnerability feel will be there, but no one cares.
soon enough computers will just be a streaming video box and we get all our processing power from renting it, because i would say 90% at least do noting but brows the internet and send email, possibly upload photos, but thats more of a cellphone thing now.
Haven't system designers already figured out that heterogeneous processing power is more energy efficient? This achievement doesn't change that fact that it makes more sense from performance / power and work / energy perspectives to glue together a couple of GP-CPUs with an array of GPGPUs such as those in the GCN architecture. Intel must have been looking for a way to make headlines in the mobile space to distract from their poor efficiency.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/10/intels-48-core-processor-destined-for-science-ships-to-univers/
Is this the new coming of Larrabee?
http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/larrabee
Hey kids, today we got a 15lb "smart phone" so have fun.