Intel Announces Dual-Core HyperThreaded Atom for Phones
During MWC 2012, Intel revealed a new dual-core Atom chip with 4 hyperthreads that will appear in smartphones next year.
After revealing the 32-nm single-core Atom Z "Medfield" series (the Z2460) last month during CES 2012 (which now supports up to 2 GHz), Intel has officially added two more chips to its Atom Z lineup: the dual-core Z2580 and the single-core Z2000.
On Monday during MWC 2012, Intel said that the latter low-power Atom Z2000 chip, featuring a single core clocked at 1 GHz, will be aimed squarely at the "value" smartphone market (AKA sub-$200). It will support Intel's XMM 6265 3G HSPA+ modem with Dual-SIM 2G/3G, a 300 MHz graphics core, 720p playback and up to an 8MP rear facing camera. Intel plans to sample the Z2000 chip in mid-2012 with customer products scheduled by early 2013.
As for the Atom Z2580, it will come with two cores clocked at 1.8 GHz and accompanied by four hyperthreads, acting as virtual cores, so that the SoC can split its power more effectively by designating one thread to any given task. Intel is hoping that hyperthreading will offset any gains made by Nvidia and Qualcomm's quad-core products while also delivering better power and battery efficiencies thanks to the 32-nm architecture (Tegra 3 is a bigger 40-nm).
Intel also added that the new Atom Z2580 will come packed with a dual-core graphics core clocked at 533 MHz built into the Penwall SoC architecture, and an "advanced multimode LTE/3G/2G solution." Intel plans to sample the Z2580 in the second half of the year with customer products scheduled in the first half of 2013.
In addition to the two new Atom Z announcements, Intel said that it plans to outpace Moore's Law by shipping 22-nm SoCs for carrier certification next year, and that it's already in development on 14-nm SoC technology. The company also revealed the XMM 7160, an advanced multimode LTE/3G/2G platform with support for 100 Mbps downlink and 50 Mbps uplink, and support for HSPA+ 42Mbps. Intel will sample the product in the second quarter with customer designs scheduled to launch by the end of 2012.
The XMM 6360 platform, a new slim modem 3G HSPA+ solution supporting 42Mbps downlink and 11.5Mbps uplink for small form factors, is currently being sampled, Intel said.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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-Fran- This is what I like about competition... If there were no competition on the smartphones, I bet Intel would give us a single core Atom at the low end and this with a holy-cow-price premium on top; if at all they'd care about smartphones, lol.Reply
Hope ARM and friends don't hold back on Intel and keep the lead.
Cheers! -
omega21xx The 1ghz single core model won't be released until 2013 in products? That's a little too late as there are plenty of budget dual core phones out now and will only be more by then.Reply -
LuckyDucky7 Yes, but can it run Crysis Mobile?Reply
Anyways. It's good to see some x86 development come for smartphones; now that Android runs on x86 and Windows 8 soon to be released- I don't want an ARM version of Windows that can't run the programs I want, but the x86 version of it running on a tablet? That's certainly a better investment than anything ARM technology has to offer right now. -
burnley14 I wouldn't doubt that this is the beginning of the end of of ARM's reign on the mobile space. Intel is simply too advanced, already producing 14nm chips and 3D transistors that will so drastically reduce power consumption. Once they gain a foothold they are going to plow over the competition. It may be several years from now, but that's what I foresee.Reply -
kyuuketsuki Why don't they hyperthread the single-core model? A cheap SoC with a single physical thread but two logical threads would seem a good solution to the low-end smartphone market.Reply -
omega21xx Turns out dual core (4 thread) chip will have the PowerVR 544 which is a step up from the GPU in the iPhone (almost double the performance from what I've heard). When this comes out I'll finally stop hearing "the iPhone has the best GPU! IT'S TEH BEST FONE EVA!!!!1111"Reply -
vilenjan I love Intel, thier cpu cant compete with ARM in terms power draw, but they have the manufacturing tech in the world, the new 22nm tri-gate process will make up for a lot of power differential vs TCMS's 28nm.Reply
Where windows goes, intel follows, welcome to the WINTEL dominion. -
Unolocogringo That is what some people dont get. Intels Reaserch and Developement budget is probably as much as AMDs or ARM'swhole operating budgets.Reply
Intel has some of the brightest minds the world has to offer in its research labs not including funding for college research projects in which they benefit also.
I have AMD and INTEL machines. They serve their intended purposes well. So no flaming.