Chip maker Intel will focus heavily on mobile this year, starting with an improvement to its Bay Trail-T tablet platform. According to a leaked report posted by VR-Zone on February 17, a Haswell refresh is also in the offing, but most important is the jump to a 64-bit architecture, which should provide not only greater power throughput, but also longer sustained usage. Rumors peg the 2014 Mobile World Congress, taking place next week in Barcelona, as the likely launch site for at least some of these new Intel chips.
Chips and Fewer Dips?
As noted by a recent NDTV Gadgets article, Bay Trail was Intel’s first out-of-order processing architecture for low-powered devices like tablets, a market that has so far eluded the major chip maker. The Bay Trail-T is rumored to include not only 64 bits, but also four cores at 2.1 GHz along with DirectX 11 graphics and DDR3 RAM support. This system on a chip (SoC) architecture could offer performance gains of up to 60 percent, allowing devices up to 20 days of standby power or 11 hours of video play between charges.
Looking at the data gleaned by VR-Zone, Intel’s mobile focus is apparent: the company supposedly has six mobile processors on tap for the next year. This is a big move for the historically desktop-focused chip maker, but with traditional computing markets slowing down or stagnating entirely, shifting focus to mobile is the obvious choice going forward. Still, Intel has ground to make up compared to ARM, Qualcomm, and even Nvidia, all of which have landed lucrative contracts with major smartphone and tablet producers. The 2014 Mobile World Congress is a logical place for the company to debut at least one of its new chips and is consistent with the leaked 2014 timeline. But will a 64-bit jump be enough?
The Rise of 64
Intel, AMD, and Apple have all designed 64-bit chips, and it’s likely that Samsung and Qualcomm aren’t far behind. But why all the excitement? According to PCWorld, part of the aim is to “future-proof” mobile devices by allowing them to support more than 4 GB of RAM and work with 64-bit desktop applications now making the jump to mobile. Apple was the first to market with a 64-bit chip last September, forcing other manufacturers to keep pace, even if there wasn’t a critical need for this technology upgrade.
For consumers, 64-bit SoC designs should mean improved performance and longer battery life, but the market is new enough that most features haven’t yet been fully fleshed out. Of note is the focus on Android 64-bit chips: with the Google OS poised to dominate the mobile market this year, there are huge gains to be made. Intel finished work on a 64-bit Android 4.4 OS in January 2014, so it only makes sense that they’ll go after this SoC market as well. Intel is also targeting high-end smartphones with the Merrifield chip and its next iteration, Moorefield.
Intel is hoping for a breakthrough in the mobile chip market, but is it enough to overtake established providers? What do you think—would new Intel chips convince you to upgrade?
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
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