11/22/2013 01:36:00 AM
dannzfay
Right now, the Intel Atom system-on-chip line is at the Bay Trail generation, but the company is, of course, working on the next range, and preparing for what will come after. A roadmap for 2014 and 2015 has emerged actually.
Not too many years ago, it was doubtful that Intel would ever really get heavily involved in the system-on-chip market, but here we are. The Atom line already includes some platforms of that sort, even though they don't measure up well against ARM-based chips, marketing-wise. Intel isn't letting that deter it. In fact, it is quite determined to power many tablets in the coming two years. Moreover, it hopes to boost CPU prowess by a factor of five by 2016, and improve GPU performance by 15 times during the same time frame. The latter is especially important since NVIDIA's Tegra line is integrating Kepler graphics already, putting it in the same league as game consoles (Xbox, PS3, etc.).
According to the new roadmap that made its way to the web, Bay Trail will be succeeded by Cherry Trail in 2014. Cherry Trail is an atom range based on the 14nm manufacturing process and designed with next-generation graphics, plus Airmont CPU cores. There will be a dual-core Merrifield Atom chip for smartphones too, near the beginning of 2014, and a quad-core is scheduled for the second half too.
Furthermore, an Atom SoC codenamed Sofie is being prepared for late 2014, for entry-level devices. The HSPA+ communications chip will be replaced by LTE in 2015 (ARM-based and, eventually, x86 as well). As for 2015, it will herald the Broxton chip, also based on 14nm manufacturing technology but with Goldmont CPU cores, plus Skylake graphics. Not much is known about them, but that's expected since it's not like Intel has much more than blueprints at this point. Even if prototypes exist, we won't get to see them any time soon, as they're doubtlessly a far cry from the intended, final product.
 |
| Intel Atom roadmap Images credits to PC World |
Posted in: 
0 comments:
Post a Comment