Quad-Core CPUs in Half of All Notebooks in 2015

By Douglas Perry
published

Quad-core processors appear to finally due to enter the mainstream in mobile computers, according to a forecast released by IHS iSuppli.

About 49 percent all notebooks shipped in 2015 are predicted to come with quad-core processors, up from 9 percent this year. The market research firm estimates that 160 million notebooks in 2015 will offer four cores, compared to just 21.2 million in 2011.

“The cornerstone of PC performance, the microprocessor, is continuing to evolve to provide new levels of performance to the PC market,” said Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst at IHS. "The battle now has moved from the dual-core segment into the quad-core area—and next will spread to the six-core realm.”

As hexa-core processors are also entering the notebook market, the quad-core CPU will be the norm and make up the clear majority of the notebook market. IHS iSuppli believes that 18 percent of notebooks will integrate six processing cores.

The market research firm also offered an outlook for heterogeneous microprocessors in notebooks that place a GPU on the processor die. The company predicts a rapid adoption and expects 90 percent of notebooks sold in 2015 to use this technology.

Douglas Perry
24 Comments Comment from the forums
  • THEfog101
    *Waiting for the usual whine about battery life*
    Reply
  • aznguy0028
    THEfog101*Waiting for the usual whine about battery life*Pssh, battery! We all know that notebooks in 2015 will be ran on a small nuclear reactor ;)
    Reply
  • Yargnit
    Only 50%? Shouldn't it be 50% by 2013 when both Intel and AND should be on 22nm? By 2015 they should both be on 18nm (I believe it's 18nm next, no?) and anything above bottom budget laptop would have hex core processors at least I'd think. (Hell, even the tablets coming out early 2012 are supposed to be quad core)
    Reply
  • captaincharisma
    well the CPU's caught up now if they can put desktop caliber graphics chips in laptops they can have the same power as some of the best desktops
    Reply
  • stonedatheist
    YargnitOnly 50%? Shouldn't it be 50% by 2013 when both Intel and AND should be on 22nm? By 2015 they should both be on 18nm (I believe it's 18nm next, no?) and anything above bottom budget laptop would have hex core processors at least I'd think. (Hell, even the tablets coming out early 2012 are supposed to be quad core)
    Agreed. Though they would be on 16nm. Since you get a doubling of transistors every node, you would get a quadrupling every other node and that would make it exactly half the half-pitch. So to figure out the upcoming node, you would simply take the node before the current one and half it (ie half of 32 is 16)
    Reply
  • iubyont
    Why is this necessary? Doesn't a HT dual core provide a better battery life to performance balance? How many people even use their laptops for CPU intensive tasks.
    Reply
  • thomaseron
    Yay, from good gaming on the go, to great gaming on the go! :-D

    Edit: Although, I think it will be earlier than 2015.
    Reply
  • prom dresses i

    Flower girl dresses

    Mother of the bride dresses

    Prom Dresses
    Reply
  • jrharbort
    For 2015, this projection seems rather low. I'd expect the number of quad core equipped shipments to be much higher. Even dual cores today are starting to show their limitations in certain areas other than gaming. This is particularly evident in the mobile space where dual cores are clocked even lower.
    Reply
  • i just want a very low power core2duo at say, 2,6ghz, if they do it with 32nm tecnology i bet it would stay below 10W consumption.
    Reply