Intel announces their own 64-bit mobile processors

It’s been a long week for new product announcements from Mobile World Congress and Intel was also present in Barcelona and took the opportunity to announce new Dual-Core 64-bit Merrifield Intel Atom Processorwhich is intended for use in smartphones and tablets as well as announcing a next generation Quad-Core ‘Moorefield’ processor aimed specifically at Android mobile devices.

The 2.13GHz Merrifield Intel Atom processor(Z3480) will be based on the 22nm Silvermont microarchitecture, and contain a PowerVR Series 6 Graphics IP core as well as integrating with the Intel XMM 7160 LTE platform. Additionally this new processor will be the first to feature the Intel Integrated Sensor Solution, a system that will allow apps to keep in contact with sensor data even when in a low-power state.

With the 22nm manufacturing process, the Merrifield processors will allow for improved battery savings for Android devices. Intel expects to see Merrifield-based devices from ‘multiple OEMs’ to be launched in Q2 this year.

The next step for Intel though is in the Quad-Core market, with their 64-bit ‘Moorefield’ processors. Due in the second half of the year. The new system will also integrate LTE, although this time with their new LTE platform(Intel XMM 7260) which will allow Cat6 LTE speeds on devices running the platform.

With the additional two cores included, Intel says the Moorefield processors will offer ‘2.3GHz of compute performance’ and also promises an enhanced GPU as well as support for faster memory.

Intel has certainly found little traction in the mobile market, although inclusion of their processors in the Galaxy Tab range was certainly a good step towards wider acceptance in teh market. Intel announced partnerships with Lenovo, ASUS, Dell and manufacturer Foxconn at MWC all of whom intend to release mobile devices, although just what software platform they’ll be using wasn’t announced. Either way, it could be a big year for Intel in mobile.