Intel has rolled out its first x86 processor that has a real chance of gaining a foothold in the ARM-dominated smartphone market. The 45 nanometer Moorestown chip family, part of the Atom range, finally gets Intel into the ARM ballpark in terms of power consumption, claiming 10 days of standby time and five hours of web browsing before recharging. So far, handset makers remain cautious, and as for other players from the PC world – notably Hewlett-Packard with its Palm purchase – Intel may find that the emerging tablet format proves its key route into the mobile world.
Adding low power consumption to the x86 architecture makes Intel a natural contender for the tablet, and other new formats that sit between the smartphone and notebook PC – mainly because of its long established channels, partnerships and economies in the notebook/netbook space. New device formats lie at the heart of its alliance with Nokia, which aims to fill in the phone-shaped hole in Intel’s range and expertise since it offloaded its own ARM-based range to Marvell. Nokia/Intel devices have yet to be revealed, but will run the jointly developed MeeGo operating system.
Others have leapt ahead on MeeGo – LG is still showing its GW990 Moorestown/MeeGo smartphone, though it now says this is a concept device rather than a final product, and it also plans a tablet. Interestingly, the carriers are also looking to stamp their brand and user experience on tablets as they are doing on phones, and may find Intel/Nokia an ally.
AT&T, for instance, has a collaboration with OpenPeak, maker of the ‘open tablet’, which is planning a Moorestown version. Insiders say AT&T plans to offer an own-branded version of this late in 2010.
The real breakthrough for Atom in true phones will come next year, with the move from the current 45nm process to even lower power at 32nm. In a research note, Morgan Stanley analysts said the 32nm release, codenamed Medfield, would be the start of a slow but steady growth path for Intel in smartphones. “We think actual Moorestown/Medfield unit shipments in the 2010/11 timeframe will likely be too small (less than 10m units) to move the needle meaningfully,” said the note.
The change will come as mobile devices become ever heavier users of web services, so that “the basis of competition will shift increasingly toward ability to handle compute functions, an area of strength for Intel.”
For now, then, non-phone mobile devices are key. The new Moorestown family consists of three chips, headlined by the Atom Z6xx system-on-chip, codenamed Lincroft, which also includes memory and display controllers, and 3D graphics and video processing hardware. The other two Moorestown components are an I/O controller and the crucial power management chip.
The Atom X6 range “opens the door” for Intel in smartphones, said Pankaj Kedia, director of the Ultra Mobility Group, unveiling the new offerings. “The specific focus of Moorestown is entering the smartphone segment but it also does very well, it scales very well in the tablet segment,” Kedia said. He highlighted fast web performance, claiming typical web page load time of two seconds, compared to 9-10 seconds on most smartphones. “Performance matters if you’re going to use the web in its entirety”, rather than subsets optimized for mobile, he added.
Chief Atom architect Belliappa Kuttanna was more bullish than analysts about the chances of getting into handsets even before the debut of Medfield. “This time the Atom architecture was defined so it could fit into the high end of the smartphone segment,” he commented at the launch, as reported by CNet.
The key operating systems supported by Z6 are MeeGo, the older Moblin (which is being merged into MeeGo), Android and Windows. Other key software which Intel has worked to optimize on the latest Atoms include Adobe Flash, Microsoft’s rich media technology Silverlight, as well as some interesting key apps such as Skype.
The prototype devices on show at the launch were certainly emphasizing Intel’s performance credentials. A smartphone from Finnish supplier Aava boasted a 1.5GHz processor in a slimline design reminiscent of a BlackBerry Bold, with a 3.8-inch screen. The OpenPeak tablet has a 1.9GHz Atom, putting it ahead of the current favorite ARM-based processor for high performance mobile gadgets, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon. This platform will appear in 1.5GHz and then 2GHz versions later this year. OpenPeak’s product has a 7-inch screen.
Kedia said commercial devices would appear in the second half of the year but that the development cycle was longer in the mobile world than in PCs. “This is not the PC space. It takes more time from a software perspective, more time from service provider perspective. We are shipping final production silicon to customers now but you should expect first devices from customers beginning in the second half,” he said.