In addition to Intel's current 32nm Atom Z2460 "Medfield" processor, which just launched in January at CES 2012, the company is preparing to release a new "top-end" 32nm Medfield processor in 1H 2013 for smartphones and tablets which will be roughly 2x faster than the Z2460.

 

Intel's new 32nm Atom Z2580 is a dual-core Medfield chip packing heat with a 1.30GHz CPU (up to 1.80GHz in Turbo Mode) and a PowerVR SGX 544MP2 GPU running at 533MHz (up from a PowerVR SGX 540 found in the Atom Z2460). According to AnandTech, we can expect roughly 2x the shader/compute performance with Intel's SoC over the PowerVR SGX 543MP2 found in Apple's A5 SoC (see: iPad 2, iPhone 4S).

Nevertheless, the Z2580 will also be paired with Intel's new XMM 7160 LTE 4G baseband. The 7160 is essentially an upgraded XMM 7060 with support for 3GPP Release 9. The modem interface will also receive an upgrade in order to compensate for increased bandwidth from the LTE baseband.



Intel's 32nm Atom Z2580 will be launching in the first half 2013, and we expect the first mobile devices to be demonstrated next year at Mobile World Congress 2013.