Intel leaks Medfield CPU details

August 13, 2010 | 10:34

Tags: #atom #atom-smartphone #lincroft #medfield #menlow #moorestown #smartphone #x86 #x86-smartphone

Companies: #arm #intel #meego

Intel appears to be struggling to contain its excitement about up-coming processor models at the moment, with a document detailing the company's Medfield mobile chip - the successor to the smartphone-oriented Moorestown - appearing unexpectedly.

The since-removed document was spotted by InfoWorld, and is at the time of writing still available as a cached copy at Google.

The section of the document detailing Medfield reveals that the required board size will be "reduced" from the 4,200mm² board required of Moorestown - thanks in large to a significantly reduced chip size, down to 144mm² from the 387mm² that Moorestown and its PCH387 chip needed, owing to the use of a 32nm process.

As well as "further reductions in power and improved battery life," owners of Medfield-based systems will allegedly be enjoying graphics performance of around twice that of Moorestown-based chips - and around four times faster than the original Menlow Atom processors.

Intel's aim of getting its Atom chips into the smartphone market - and taking on rival ARM - looks confirmed by the presentation, with reference to devices featuring "800x480 [...] Touch Screen, DVB-T, Bluetooth, GPS, Gyro," and claims of Atom-based systems weighing just "~200-300g," clearly representing Medfield-based smartphones.

Interestingly, Intel looks to be shunning Android - at least, for now - despite work carried out to get Google's mobile platform working on x86 hardware, with the only operating system mentioned in the document being the Linux-based MeeGo. Also notable in its absence is any mention of Windows Phone 7 - currently only available for ARM-based hardware.

So far Intel has refused to comment on the leak - beyond a non-denial stating that the company "has not formally announced the product," but if true it looks like Intel is about to experience the joys of being the underdog in a market dominated by a very big player - ARM.

Are you interested to see the company's attempts to produce an ARM-beating chip for portable devices, or should Intel admit defeat and just start licensing ARM's - clearly incredibly successful - designs? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
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