Saving Intel: next-gen Intel ultrabooks for enterprise and professional markets from $500; next-gen Intel notebooks, other value devices and tablets for entry level computing and consumer markets from $300

OR “2 for 1” (or “two-for-one”) touch and voice enabled ultrabooks of convertible and detachable form factors with Haswell / 4th generation Intel Core processor family (shipping now and on track for Q2’13 launch) starting as low as $500.

Touch-enabled notebooks [other value devices and tablets]
with Bay Trail down to the $300 to $400 range
in Q4’13, and as low as $200 later.

OR after Intel’s biggest flop: at least 3-month delay in delivering the power management solution for its first tablet SoC [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, Dec 20, 2012] AND Urgent search for an Intel savior [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, Nov 21 – Dec 11, 2012] Intel is finally ready to drop entry level prices to competitive levels in both enterprise/professional and entry level computing /consumer markets

Updates: a young Seeking Alpha investment research contributor reflected on it as Intel Just Made A Huge Decision [April 14, 2013] with the following reasoning to close his article which I wholeheartedly agree with:

…

Intel’s “Atom” chips command margins roughly in line with the corporate average. This makes sense given that Nvidia recently disclosed that its “Tegra” mobile SoC business carried roughly 50% gross margins. Given that Intel owns its own fabs (and doesn’t pay royalties to ARM), gross margins in the 60%+ range are completely plausible. The problem is that raw ASPs for the chips are much lower than that of the traditional notebook and desktop chips.

Selling a $25 – $30 processor isn’t going to give you the raw margin dollars that a $100 processor will, even if the gross margin percentage is the same. If we start seeing a trend where people are simply going with the Atom based solutions rather than the Core solutions, then this will of course be a problem for Intel at the top and bottom lines. But if we see the “Core” solutions staying mostly flat with the rejuvenated Atom helping to gain back market share from the ARM vendors, then this is pure upside for Intel.

My guess is that the “truth” is going to be somewhere in the middle. The people who need performance, will always need performance, and the people who generally bought low cost, would have bought the cheaper “Celeron” and “Pentium” products (these aren’t too much more expensive than an Atom/ARM SoC) anyway. I expect that the difference is that while today’s “Celeron” and “Pentium” products generally end up in crappy systems with bad screens, slow hard disks, and lousy battery life, the “Atom” products will end up in much more compelling systems, as the PC OEMs/Intel can’t really afford to keep the good stuff confined to expensive systems that people may not be buying anyway.

Conclusion

Intel made the right move to unleash Atom and to grin and bear the potential blended ASP erosion that is sure to happen. The key, then, is to focus not on blended ASPs, but to keep an eye on total revenue and gross margin dollars. If these grow as a result of Atom, then great – Intel gets rewarded with a higher multiple as it will have proven its viability going forward, and increased revenues/earnings will only further serve to amplify the share price. If revenues stagnate, then Intel still made the right decision (because it is likely that without Atom being competitive, ARM based chips would have caused continued negative growth), but will need to really focus on increasing the total # of devices that it serves.

In no way is making Atom more competitive a “mistake”, and Intel would rather cannibalize itself than let the other chip vendors do it. The big question mark is how total sales are going to be, and whether a competitive Atom at the low end PC + tablet spaces is going to be enough. My bet is “yes”, but nothing is ever sure when it comes to business.

Don’t forget meawhile that Intel promotes Android convertible notebooks, say vendors [DIGITIMES, April 19, 2013]

Viewing that Windows 8 has been unable to stimulate global demand for notebooks, and global sales of Android tablets have been increasing, Intel has begun to promote Android tablet-convertible notebooks, and China-based vendor Lenovo has taken the initiative to launch initial models in May while Hewlett-Packard (HP), Toshiba, Acer and Asustek Computer will launch models in the third quarter, according to sources from notebook vendors.

Lenovo’s Android-based Yoga notebook [see: Lenovo Yoga 11S ultrabook tablet-convertible [Notebookitalia YouTube channel, Jan 7, 2013] and the IDF Bejing slide inserted on the left in a smaller format, both embedded much below in this post], set for release in May, is expected to feature an 11-inch display, the sources noted.

Intel has estimated that the price sweet spot of Android-based notebooks is around US$500, and the machines will also need to feature detachable keyboard designs to allow transformation into a tablet, the sources said.

Since most consumers are familiar with Android, with the addition of document processing applications, the sources believe Android-based notebooks should be able to attract strong demand.

At the same time Some China-based white-box vendors plan to develop Windows 8 tablets [DIGITIMES, April 17, 2013]

Viewing that Android tablets, especially 7-inch models, have been under intense price competition and therefore profitability is thinning, some China-based white-box vendors are considering developing Windows 8 tablets equipped with Intel processors for market segmentation, according to industry sources at the 2013 China Sourcing Fair: Electronics and Components taking place in Hong Kong during April 12-15.

The products are expected to show up at the beginning of the third quarter, at the soonest.

The sources believe that since the volume of tablets using a Windows operating system is still low, if they are able to enter the market ahead of others, there may be a chance of gaining profits.

Although related costs are expected to increase by using Intel’s platform and Microsoft’s operating system, the sources pointed out that the advantage as an early mover will allow them to achieve better gross margins than for Android-based models. The fees from the operating system are not really a huge concern, the sources added.

End of updates

Sections of this post:

1. Touch-enabled notebooks [other value devices and tablets] with Bay Trail down to the $300 to $400 range in Q4’13, and as low as $200 later.
2. “2 for 1” (or “two-for-one”) touch and voice enabled ultrabooks of convertible and detachable form factors with Haswell/4th generation Intel Core processor family (shipping now and on track for Q2’13 launch) starting as low as $500.
3. Intel’s CEO Discusses Q1 2013 Results – Earnings Call Transcript [Seeking Alpha, April 16, 2013]
4. Earlier information from Intel

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1. Touch-enabled notebooks [other value devices and tablets] with Bay Trail down to the $300 to $400 range in Q4’13, and as low as $200 later.

Note that on this slide demoed on the screen of Bay Trail prototype (see the video embedded below) the targeted launch is set for “HR’13”, meaning “Holiday Revenue 2013”. Note as well that the Bail Trail SoC is both for entry desktop (i.e. Celeron) and entry notebook (i.e. current Atom) replacement. This why in the video below both an entry desktop motherboard prototype (from Gigabyte) and an entry notebook (from ASUS) is demoed. The range of devices with Bay Trail SoC is going to be however much wider than that, as is communicated already by Intel in the below excerpts. More exact information will be available later.

From: Intel’s CEO Discusses Q1 2013 Results – Earnings Call Transcript [Seeking Alpha, April 16, 2013]

… as we get into the Christmas selling season … we’ll see, because of Bay Trail coming into the marketplace, you’ll see touch-enabled thin notebooks with really good performance that are hitting kind of $300 price points. And then with our Android tablets, you’ll see things that are significantly …

… If you look at touch-enabled Intel based notebooks that are ultrathin and light using non-Core processors, those prices are going to be down to as low as $200 probably. …

Intel Bay Trail Prototype Hands On & HD Video Demo [minipcpro YouTube channel, April 9, 2013]

From: Intel Developer Forum: Transforming Computing Experiences from the Device to the Cloud [press release, April 10, 2013] Images are inserted from:
- Reinventing the Computing Experience presentation at IDF 2013 by Kirk Skaugen, Intel senior vice president and general manager of the PC Client Group
- Mobile Inside at IDF 2013 by Tan Weng Kuan, vice president and general manager of the Mobile Communications Group, Intel China
- Developing on Innovative Intel® Atom™ Processor Based Tablet Platforms [April 11, 2013 presentation by Intel at the IDF Beijing]

Augmenting the company’s offerings for computing at a variety of price points, Skaugen announced plans for new market variants of its “Bay Trail” 22nm SoC with PC feature sets specifically designed for value convertibles, clamshell laptops, desktops and value all-in-one computers to ship later this year.

…

Taking full advantage of the broad spectrum of capabilities enabled by Intel® architecture, processor technology leadership, manufacturing and multi OS support across Windows* 8 and Android*, Tan discussed the company’s forthcoming smartphone and tablet products based on Intel’s leading-edge 22nm process and an entirely new Atom microarchitecture. Intel’s quad-core Atom SoC (“Bay Trail“) will be the most powerful Atom processor to-date, doubling the computing performance of Intel’s current-generation tablet offering¹. Scheduled for holiday 2013 tablets [in market Q4’13], “Bay Trail” will help enable new experiences and designs as thin as 8mm that have all-day battery life and weeks of standby.

What’s New in Tablets? Intel Powers Android & Windows 8 [channelintel YouTube channel, Feb 27, 2013]

From: Intel’s CEO Discusses Q1 2013 Results – Earnings Call Transcript [Seeking Alpha, April 16, 2013]

… as we get into the Christmas selling season, your expectation is you will see touch-enabled ultrabooks that are $499 and $599 pretty commonly out there. $599 commonly, and $499 as kind of special SKUs.

From: Intel Developer Forum: Transforming Computing Experiences from the Device to the Cloud [press release, April 10, 2013]
Images are inserted from Reinventing the Computing Experience presentation at IDF2013 by Kirk Skaugen, Intel senior vice president and general manager of the PC Client Group

Reinventing the Computing Experience

During his keynote, Kirk Skaugen, Intel senior vice president and general manager of the PC Client Group, provided a deeper look at the forthcoming 4th generation Intel Core processor family, which he said is now shipping to OEM customers and will launch later this quarter.

“Ultrabooks based on the 4th generation Intel Core processor family will enable exciting, new computing experiences and all-day battery life delivering the most significant battery life capability improvement in Intel’s history,” said Skaugen. “It will also bring to consumers a new wave of ‘two-for-one‘ convertible and detachable systems that combine the best of a full PC experience with the best of a tablet in amazing new form factors.”

NEW Architecture on 22nm Tri Gate NEW Intel Power Optimizer: 20x Power Reduction vs. 2nd gen Intel® Core™ Processors NEW Integrated on package PCH [Platform Controller Hub] for amazing form factors NEW Integrated Audio DSP: more battery life, higher quality Shipping Now and On Track for Q2 2013 Launch

The new Intel Core microarchitecture will allow the company to deliver up to double the graphics performance over the previous generation. In addition, the new graphics solution will have high levels of integration to enable new form factors and designs with excellent visual quality built in. Skaugen demonstrated these graphics improvements on the 4th generation Intel Core processor-based Ultrabook reference design called “Harris Beach.” The demo featured Dirt 3*, a popular gaming title, showing the same visual experience and game play as a discrete graphics card that users would otherwise have to add separately. He also showed the 4th generation Intel Core processor-based concept, codenamed “Niagara,” a premium notebook with the ability to play the unreleased enthusiast title Grid 2* from CodeMasters* without the aid of a discrete graphics card.

Along with touch capability, Intel® Wireless Display (Intel WiDi) will be enabled on all 4th generation Intel Core processor-based Ultrabook devices to allow people to quickly and securely stream content and apps from devices to the big screen, free from the burden of cables. Skaugen said the China ecosystem is taking the lead on integrating Intel WiDi into systems, and announced that the leading television manufacturer in China, TCL*, has a new model with the Intel WiDi technology built in. He also announced new receivers certified for Intel WiDi from QVOD* and Lenovo* and a set-top box from Gehua*.

Where the idea of “2 for 1” (or “two-for-one”) was already demonstrated in 
Convertible Ultrabook™ Features [channelintel YouTube channel, Feb 7, 2013]

and here is The Best of Both Worlds, a Convertible Ultrabook™ Story (Long Version) [channelintel YouTube channel, Feb 27, 2013] live–action video for that

Shown first at CES 2013 for May’13 delivery: Lenovo Yoga 11S ultrabook tablet-convertible [Notebookitalia YouTube channel, Jan 7, 2013]

As well as a detachable form factor ultrabook reference design: IDF Beijing 2013 Keynote Demo – North Cape [channelintel YouTube channel, April 17, 2013]

Kirk Skaugen:

[0:17] This is a full 17 mm clamshell ultrabook. In this configuration it actually has 13 hours of battery life, and it is a full Core i5 computer. But what I can do here, as I can just very simply push in an electronic eject button, and lift it out very simply with one hand. About 3 hours of battery life comes from a battery that sits under the keyboard. But here then I have an amazing notebook that gives me a less than 3 pound tablet with 10 hours of battery life. [0:51]

At CeBIT 2013 in Hannover, Germany (March 5-9) North Cape was demonstrated as:
Haswell Ultrabook – North Cape Reference Design Hands-On [Steve Chippy Paine YouTube channel, March 5, 2013]

and in the companion article it was reported:

In a chat with one of the marketing managers I confirmed that there will be COnnected Standby and non-Connected Standby Ultrabooks on Haswell. The CS Ultrabooks are likely to be the cream of the crop and will be more expensive but will have lower power profiles. Clearly the hybrid designs are the perfect fit for CS-capable Ultrabooks but I’ wouldn’t be surprised to see Samsung have a CS-capable Series 9. Remember, CS is not just about being up-to-date with emails, it means apps can run when the Ultrabook is in your bag, without a fan, on an SSD, for days. It’s the mark of extreme battery life, it’s very exciting technology and likely to be exclusive to Ultrabooks.

then immediately before IDF the same source delivered the news that Haswell Ultrabooks could achieve Tablet-like 100mW Connected-Idle [April 9, 2013]

In a presentation due to go out at the Intel Developer Forum over the next two days Intel will outline best practices for low-power idle on Ultrabooks. Today you’ll be lucky to see an Ultrabook idle to less than 3000mW (3 Watts) which is a background drain that’s always there. On Haswell, Intel says that you could get to a screen-off idle state of 100mW.

By effectively removing nearly 3W of background drain, all operations are going to benefit, not just idle. Where Internet browsing was a 9W operation, expect to see that go down to around 6W for a big increase in battery life.

The 100mW target requires both system designers and software engineers to build to the best standards but when it comes to laptops, it’s the Ultrabooks that have the best chance of getting the best engineers working on them. Low-power DDR3 memory, SSD storage, high-quality power components and tight board design mean the best systems won’t be cheap systems but all the ingredients and skills are now available to make laptops that idle like tablets.

Intel also want’s to see engineers using configurable TDP and other features to create systems in the 10W (fanless) range. High Density Interconnects on motherboards could also bring advantages. By reducing the mainboard size, space is created for more battery. Intel says there’s a chance to fit 20-45% more battery inside when motherboard sizes are reduced using HDI techniques.

While the ingredients and techniques might be on the shelf, it’s up to the OEMS to decide how they use them. Pricing pressures often lead to compromises so don’t expect all of the new engineering techniques to appear on anything but the high-end Ultrabooks.

More information: Form Factor and Average Power Innovations for Ultrabooks™
[April 10, 2013 presentation by Intel at the IDF Beijing] with the following abstract:

Intended Audience: OEMs and ODMs – Motherboard Layout Designers, Power Delivery, and Power Management Architects

In this session we propose methods to improve, form factor, battery capacity, and power consumption for Ultrabook™ devices. We show how High Density Interconnects (HDI) Printed Circuit Boards could free up considerable space for more battery and other features, especially in thinner Ultrabooks. We show current practices with HDI and propose better ways to achieve higher mother board area reduction to close the cost gap between type 3 and type 4 (HDI) designs. For power consumption, we also show design methods to reduce average power, especially by reducing platform idle power.

and agenda:

• What is HDI?
• Benefits of HDI in Form Factor Constrained Systems
• Reducing the Cost of HDI
• Reducing Platform Power
• Thermal management an Power Configurability

North Cape was first shown at CES 2013, so OEMs had pretty much time to work on Haswell based offerings to be unveiled in Q2’13:
Intel Delivers Broad Range of New Mobile Experiences [press release, Jan 7, 2013]

• 4th generation Intel® Core™ processor family (formerly codenamed “Haswell“) will enable a broad new range of Ultrabook convertibles, detachables and tablets with all-day battery life; the biggest battery life gain over a previous generation in company’s history³.

³ 4th Generation Intel Core processors provide 3-5 hours of additional battery life when compared to 3rd Generation Intel Core processors, based on measurement of 1080p HD video playback.

Low Power Fuels Ultrabook Innovation

Since mid-2011, Intel has led the industry in enabling Ultrabook devices aimed at providing new, richer mobile computing experiences in thin, elegant and increasingly convertible and detachable designs. To enable these innovative designs, Intel announced last September that it added a new line of processors to its forthcoming 4th generation Intel Core processor family targeted at about 10 watt design power, while still delivering the excellent performance people want and need.

Skaugen announced today that the company is bringing the low-power line of processors into its existing 3rd generation Intel Core processor family. Available now, these chips will operate as low as 7 watts, allowing manufacturers greater flexibility in thinner, lighter convertible designs. Currently there are more than a dozen designs in development based on this new low-power offering and they are expected to enable a full PC experience in innovative mobile form factors including tablets and Ultrabook convertibles. The Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga* 11S Ultrabook and a future Ultrabook detachable from Acer will be among the first to market this spring based on the new Intel processors and were demonstrated by Skaugen on stage.

The 4th generation Intel Core processor family enables true all-day battery life — representing the most significant battery life capability improvement in Intel history. Skaugen disclosed that new systems are expected to deliver up to 9 hours of continuous battery life, freeing people from some of the wires and bulky power bricks typically toted around.

“The 4th generation Core processors are the first Intel chips built from the ground up with the Ultrabook in mind,” Skaugen said. “We expect the tremendous advancements in lower-power Core processors, and the significant ramp of touch-based systems will lead to a significant new wave of convertible Ultrabooks and tablets that are thinner, lighter and, at the same time, have the performance required for more human-like interaction such as touch, voice and gesture controls.”

To demonstrate the impact of the 4th generation Intel Core processor family, Skaugen showed a new form factor Ultrabook detachable reference design (codenamed “North Cape“) that converts into a 10mm tablet and can run on battery for up to 13 hours while docked.

Advancements made in the way consumers will interact with their computing devices were also demonstrated, including natural and more immersive interaction experiences using a 3-D depth camera. Intel showed applications running on an Ultrabook in which objects can be manipulated naturally with free movements of the hands, fingers, face and voice. One application that was demonstrated can be used for enabling new and immersive video collaboration and blogging experiences. These were all enabled using the Intel® Perceptual Computing SDK Beta. This year, Intel expects more Ultrabooks and all-in-one (AIO) systems to offer applications for voice control (Dragon Assistant*) and facial recognition (Fast Access*) for convenience and freedom from passwords.

So this was first shown at CES 2013 as well: IDF Beijing 2013 Keynote Demo — Perceptual Computing SDK [channelintel YouTube channel, April 17, 2013]

which was used in the IDF Beijing 2013 Keynote Demo – Personified Chat [channelintel YouTube channel, April 17, 2013]

IDF 2013 Beijing Highlights Day One [channelintel YouTube channel, April 16, 2013]

Intel® Ultrabook™ Convertible SBA v1 [channelintel YouTube channel, April 2, 2013]

Intel® Ultrabook™ Performance SBA v2 [channelintel YouTube channel, April 2, 2013]

Paul Otellini for the second half of the year for sales:

… as the OEMs start looking at new form factors that they can design around our new chips, Haswell in particular, and maybe Bay Trail, and Windows 8, enabling touch, the explosion in form factors and the competitiveness of that platform is going to be substantially different, at price points down into the $300 to $400 range enabling touch. We didn’t have that last year. So you go into the prime selling season with new products, new technologies, new form factors, and new capabilities that, up to now, were unapproachable price points.

Paul Otellini regarding his current view on Haswell’s potential to revitalize the PC market with Windows 8:

With Haswell, there’s a number of things. First of all, the overall performance goes up, graphics performance goes up, as well as the integer performance. So it’s a better punch in the package than we’ve had with Ivy Bridge. Point one. Point two, the power envelope, or the batter life for that level of performance, is exceptionally better than Ivy Bridge.

Third, it gets into the form factor innovation and the integration with touch as I spoke about earlier, which I think is really part of the recipe required for Win 8 adoption. I’ve recently converted personally to Windows 8 with touch, and it is a better Windows than Windows 7 in the desktop mode, when you implement the touch and the touch-based applications and operating environment. It’s just a lot easier to use.

There is an adoption curve, and once you get over that adoption curve, I don’t think you go back. And we didn’t quite have that same kind of adoption curve in Windows 7 versus XP before it. This requires a little bit of training. And I think people are attracted to touch, and the touch price points today are still fairly high, and they’re coming down very rapidly over the next couple of quarters.

Paul Otellini about technology transitions:

We’ve also got the technology transition to the 14 nanometers. [unintelligible] a first order, all of our spending is focused on 14 nanometers , which gives us a fairly significant ramp capability. If demand for older products exceeds what we could build on 14, we could still build 22 for quite some time. So I really think it depends on whatever demand scenario you see out there. In any event, the most important thing for us is to make that transition to 14 and continue to have the leading edge.

Lenovo Talks Tablets [detachable ultrabooks] at HIMSS 13 [channelintel YouTube channel, April 16, 2013]

Paul Ottelini on what Intel can do to help the PC ecosystem to become healthy again:

I think continue to give them the tools to innovate. And I wouldn’t paint the entire customer base with the same brush that you just did. Certainly if you looked at the last quarter, even inside the PC space, Lenovo outperformed everybody else, and actually had a very good year on year set of numbers, in a down year. Apple continues to do well.

Subsets of customers in different segments are also doing very well in terms of, say, those. Those providing products into the internet data centers. What I see when we look out is a tremendous amount of innovation, particularly at the ODM and Taiwanese OEM side, where the ability to miniaturize and bring things into extremely thin form factors is as revolutionary as the amount of changes I’ve seen in my time in this industry.

And so I think what we can do is give them the products, like Haswell and Bay Trail to innovate around. We can help them with other feature sets like voice and speech that go around them, and just help them build better products.

Paul Ottelini on Intel efforts to invest in things outside of what could called core PC, such as the set top box or in the foundry efforts or other areas of revenue that the company is seeking:

I don’t look at things with quite that level of granularity. The foundry thing, the investment is really going to be taking advantage, at least near term, with the current customer base, of capacity that we’re already putting in place. That doesn’t mean that at some point we won’t have to actually build extra capacity for a foundry customer or a foundry business, but today, up to this point, it’s certainly within our ability to absorb.

The set top box spending, or the stuff we’re doing in Intel Media, in the grand scheme of things, is not a lot of spending. So the real issue is inside of our core microprocessor and platform development, and we’re at the point now where roughly half of our spending is focused on System on Chip, inside the microprocessor world.

And the System on Chip environment is really a lot of the ultramobile products. It’s the phones, it’s the tablets. It’s embedded systems. It’s automotive, etc. Where we have fairly strong growth opportunities. So it’s not the same monolithic Tick-Tock model that we put in place eight years ago.

Paul Otellini on the proper interpretation of the new price points mentioned earlier in the earnings call:

We have a certain spec for ultrabooks, and that is the product that Stacy said is going to be centered at as low as $599 with some [diverse] SKUs to $499. If you look at touch-enabled Intel based notebooks that are ultrathin and light using non-Core processors, those prices are going to be down to as low as $200 probably.

Re: Stacy Smith (Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President) about the sources of increased confidence now in versus where Intel was three months ago talking earlier in the earnings call as follows:

First of all, just to make sure I’m not oversoaking things here, you really just need seasonal from where we are in order to achieve the low single digit revenue growth. So I don’t think we have a hugely high bar out there, and I went through a dissection of where I think the revenue comes from.

In terms of the things that give me confidence, or at least I personally believe it could be better than seasonal, it’s the things we talked about, improving macroeconomic environment, the fact that we now are participating across a range of compute devices, and so the mix between those don’t impact us nearly as much.

And then third, as Paul said, you have innovative form factors coming out in ultrabooks, in convertibles, and in detachables, that are hitting these really compelling mainstream price points that are touch enabled. And as we get into the Christmas selling season, your expectation is you will see touch-enabled ultrabooks that are $499 and $599 pretty commonly out there. $599 commonly, and $499 as kind of special SKUs.

And then we’ll see, because of Bay Trail coming into the marketplace, you’ll see touch-enabled thin notebooks with really good performance that are hitting kind of $300 price points. And then with our Android tablets, you’ll see things that are significantly, [hey, I have that]. So we’ll be participating across a broad range of compute devices as we get into the back half of this year.

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4. Earlier information from Intel:

Intel Accelerates Mobile Computing Push [press release, Feb 24, 2012]

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

• Launches dual-core Intel® Atom™ Processor-based platform (formerly “Clover Trail+”) aimed at performance and mainstream smartphone market segments, and providing double the compute performance and 3x graphics capabilities¹ with competitive battery life. Product to also debut in Android* tablets.
• Reveals one of the world’s smallest² and lowest-power multimode-multiband LTE solutions for global roaming in one SKU with envelope tracking and antenna tuning. Shipping single mode now with multimode shipments beginning first half of 2013.
• Demonstrates continued momentum in emerging markets with Intel® Atom™ Z2420 processor, including new smartphone engagement with Etisalat* in Egypt. ASUS* to also debut a new Android* tablet based on the Atom Z2420 processor.
• Announces support from leading ODMs for next-generation quad-core Atom SoC (“Bay Trail”), scheduled to be available for holiday 2013.
• Extends mobile device enabling efforts to tablets, followed by phones.

MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS, Barcelona, Spain, Feb. 25, 2013 – Intel Corporation today announced a range of new products, ecosystem and enabling efforts that will further accelerate the company’s presence in mobile and help usher in new devices and richer experiences with Intel Inside®.

The announcements include a new dual-core Atom™ SoC (“Clover Trail+“) platform for smartphones and Android* tablets, and the company’s first global, multimode-multiband LTE solution that will ship in the first half of this year. Other disclosures included “Bay Trail” momentum, mobile device enabling efforts, and continued smartphone momentum in emerging markets with the Intel® Atom™ Z2420 processor-based platform.

“Today’s announcements build on Intel’s growing device portfolio across a range of mobile market segments,” said Hermann Eul, Intel vice president and co-general manager of the Mobile and Communications Group. “In less than a year’s time we have worked closely with our customers to bring Intel-based smartphones to market in more than 20 countries around the world, and have also delivered an industry-leading low-power Atom™ SoC tablet solution running Windows* 8, and shipping with leading OEM customers today. Looking forward, we will build upon this foundation and work closely with our ecosystem partners, across operating systems, to deliver the best mobile products and experiences for consumers with Intel Inside.”

New, Efficient Atom™ SoC Platform

Intel’s new Atom™ processor platform (“Clover Trail+“) and smartphone reference design delivers industry-leading performance with low-power and long battery life that rivals today’s most popular Android* phones. The product brings Intel’s classic product strengths, including high performance that lets you enjoy smooth Web browsing,  vibrant, glitch-free, full HD movies, and an Android* applications experience that launches fast and runs great.

The platform’s 32nm dual core Intel® Atom™ Processors — Z2580, Z2560, Z2520 — are available in speeds up to 2.0 GHz, 1.6 GHz and 1.2GHz, respectively. The processor also features support for Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology, supporting four simultaneous application threads and further enhancing the overall efficiency of the Atom cores.

The integrated platform also includes an Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator engine with a graphics core supporting up to 533MHz with boost mode, and delivering up to three times the graphics performance¹ for rich 3-D visuals, lifelike gaming and smooth, full 1080P hardware-accelerated video encode and decode at 30fps.

“Our second-generation product delivers double the compute performance and up to three times the graphics capabilities¹, all while maintaining competitive low power,” Eul said. “As we transition to 22nm Atom SoCs later this year, we will take full advantage of the broad spectrum of capabilities enabled by our design, architecture, 22nm tri-gate transistor technology, and leading-edge manufacturing to further accelerate our position.”

The new Atom platform also brings advanced imaging capabilities, including support for two cameras, with a primary camera sensor up to 16 megapixels. The imaging system also enables panorama capture, a 15 frame-per-second burst mode for 8 megapixel photos, real-time facial detection and recognition, and mobile HDR image capture with de-ghosting for clearer pictures in flight.

The platform is also equipped with Intel® Identity Protection Technology (Intel IPT), helping to enable strong, two-factor authentication for protecting cloud services such as remote banking, e-commerce, online gaming and social networking from unauthorized access. Since Intel IPT is embedded at chip-level, unlike hardware or phone-based tokens, it can enable more secure, yet user-friendly cloud access protection. Intel is working with partners including Feitian*, Garanti Bank*, MasterCard*, McAfee*, SecureKey* Technologies Inc., Symantec*, Vasco Data Security International* Inc. and Visa* Inc. to incorporate this technology into their services.

With WUXGA display support of 1920×1200³, the platform will also enable larger-screen Android* tablet designs. It also includes support for Android* 4.2 (Jelly Bean), Intel Wireless Display Technology, HSPA+ at 42Mbps with the Intel® XMM 6360 slim modem solution, and the new industry-standard UltraViolet™ Common File Format.

Customers announcing support for “Clover Trail+” platform for phones and tablets include ASUS*, Lenovo*, and ZTE*.

Debuting at CES last month, the Lenovo* IdeaPhone K900* is based on the Intel® Atom™ processor Z2580 and delivers rich video, graphics and Web content at fantastic speeds. The IdeaPhone is 6.9mm thin and also features the world’s first 5.5-inch full high-definition 400+ PPI screen for increased clarity of text and images. The K900 will be the first product to market based on the Atom processor Z2580. Lenovo plans to introduce the smartphone in the second quarter of 2013 in China, followed soon by select international markets.

Building on the Atom processor platform (“Clover Trail+”), Intel also highlighted its forthcoming 22nm smartphone Atom™ SoC (“Merrifield“). The product is based on Intel’s leading-edge 22nm process and an entirely new Atom microarchitecture that will help enable increased smartphone performance, power efficiency and battery life.

Long-Term Evolution (4G LTE)

Intel’s strategy is to deliver a leading low-power, global modem solution that works across multiple bands, modes, regions and devices.

The Intel XMM 7160 is one of the world’s smallest² and lowest-power multimode-multiband LTE solutions (LTE / DC-HSPA+ / EDGE), supporting multiple devices including smartphones, tablets and Ultrabooks™.  The 7160 global modem supports 15 LTE bands simultaneously, more than any other in-market solution. It also includes a highly configurable RF architecture running real time algorithms for envelope tracking and antenna tuning that enables cost-efficient multiband configurations, extended battery life, and global roaming in a single SKU.

“The 7160 is a well-timed and highly competitive 4G LTE solution that we expect will meet the growing needs of the emerging global 4G market,” Eul said. “Independent analysts have shown our solution to be world class and I’m confident that our offerings will lead Intel into new multi-comm solutions. With LTE connections projected to double over the next 12 months to more than 120 million connections, we believe our solution will give developers and service providers a single competitive offering while delivering to consumers the best global 4G experience. Building on this, Intel will also accelerate the delivery of new advanced features to be timed with future advanced 4G network deployments.”

Intel is currently shipping its single mode 4G LTE data solution and will begin multimode shipments later in the first half of this year. The company is also optimizing its LTE solutions concurrently with its SoC roadmap to ensure the delivery of leading-edge low-power combined solutions to the marketplace.

Intel® Atom™ Platform Z2420

As Intel expands its geographic presence, the company sees tremendous opportunity in delivering rich Intel-based mobile experiences to consumers across emerging markets.

As part of its strategy to take advantage of the fast growing market for value smartphones in emerging markets, which some analysts expect to reach 500 million units by 2015, Intel highlighted continuing momentum with the Intel Atom Processor Z2420 platform (formerly “Lexington“). Since it was first announced at CES, Acer* (Thailand, Malaysia), Lava* (India) and Safaricom* (Kenya) have all announced new handsets.

Etisalat Misr*, a leading telco operator based in Egypt and a subsidiary of Etisalat group UAE, in collaboration with Intel today announced plans for the Etisalat E-20 Smartphone with Intel Inside®. Set to debut in Egypt in April, the Intel-based handset will be the first in the Middle East and North Africa region, and the second introduction in Africa to-date, building on the recent launch of Safaricom* in Kenya.

Demonstrating the flexibility of the Atom SoC platform to accommodate a range of device and market segment needs, ASUS* later today will announce a new Android* tablet based on the Intel® Atom™ Processor Z2420.

Tablets with Intel Inside®

Building on the device momentum and industry-leading power-efficiency of the award-winning Atom processor Z2760, Intel’s first quad-core Atom SoC (“Bay Trail“), will be the most powerful Atom processor to-date — doubling the computing performance of Intel’s current- generation tablet offering and providing the ecosystem with a strong technology foundation and feature set from which to innovate. The “Bay Trail” platform, scheduled to be available for holiday 2013, is already up and running on Windows* and Android* and will help enable new experiences in designs as thin as 8mm that have all-day battery life and weeks of standby.

Intel is currently working with Compal*, ECS*, Pegatron*, Quanta* and Wistron* to accelerate “Bay Trail” tablets to the market. Intel is also extending its work with leading OEM partners globally, building on the strong foundation of  Intel Atom processor Z2760-based tablet designs in market from Acer*, ASUS*, Dell*, Fujitsu*, HP*, Lenovo*, LG Electronics and Samsung*.

Enabling Mobile Devices with Intel Inside®

Intel today announced an expansion of its ecosystem enabling efforts to deliver new device and market innovations across a range of Windows*- and Android*-based mobile devices.

Intel platform and enabling programs have been the foundation of OEM and ODM innovation for decades. The new program will focus on accelerating time to market for leading-edge mobile devices based on Intel® architecture with top OEMs and ODMs. The program will focus first on tablets, followed by phones, providing pre-qualified solutions with simplified building blocks to scale designs quickly for mature and emerging markets. The Atom Processor Z2760 and the company’s forthcoming 22nm Atom SoC, codenamed “Bay Trail,” will be the starting foundation for the effort.

¹ Compared to the Intel Atom Processor Z2460 platform; Graphics clock will vary based on SKU: Z2580, Z2560, Z2520.

² Compared with competitive solutions shipping in market today.

³ Corrected from misprinted ’1900×1200′ to ’1920×1200′ – Feb. 27,21013

Intel Developer Forum: Transforming Computing Experiences  from the Device to the Cloud [press release, April 10, 2013]
Images are inserted from Reinventing the Computing Experience presentation at IDF2013 by Kirk Skaugen, Intel senior vice president and general manager of the PC Client Group

Company Accelerates Expansion of 22nm Data Center Processor Families; Graphics Innovations, Intel® Wireless Display Coming to Next-Generation Ultrabooks

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

• Accelerates expansion of offerings across the data center processor product lines based on Intel’s innovative 22nm manufacturing technology.
• Aims to revolutionize the server rack design by delivering an Intel rack scale architecture for increased flexibility, density and utilization of servers leading to lower total cost of ownership.
• Next-generation, 64-bit Intel® Atom™ processor for microservers, codenamed “Avoton,” is being sampled to customers with broad availability expected in the second half of this year.
• 4th generation Intel® Core™ processors are now shipping to customers and will launch later this quarter.

INTEL DEVELOPER FORUM, Beijing, April 10, 2013 – During Intel Corporation’s annual developer forum this week, company executives announced new technologies and partnerships aimed at transforming how people experience technology from the device to the cloud. The announcements included details on new data center product lines based on the 22-nanometer (nm) process technology and the new Intel rack scale architecture, along with details on the forthcoming 4th generation Intel® Core™ processor family.

During her keynote, Diane Bryant, Intel senior vice president and general manager of the Datacenter and Connected Systems Group, underscored the importance of the data center in enabling amazing personal computing experiences to deliver real-time information and services. She also outlined the steps Intel is taking to provide the hardware and software needed for data analytics to improve the capabilities of intelligent devices and data center infrastructure.

“People are increasingly demanding more from their devices through applications and services whether at home, at work or wherever they may be,” Bryant said. “Intel is delivering a powerful portfolio of hardware and software computing technologies from the device to the data center that can improve experiences and enable new services.”

Bryant outlined plans to accelerate the expansion of Intel’s offerings across the data center processor product lines based on its innovative 22nm manufacturing technology before the end of the year, thereby enabling a more cost-effective and efficient data center infrastructure. Intel’s broad portfolio of data center intellectual property enables Intel to quickly integrate features into new products and bring them to market. For example, Intel is launching the new Intel® Atom™ S12x9 processor family customized for storage today, just four months after the debut of the Intel Atom S1200 processor for microservers.

Intel plans to deliver two more Intel Atom processor-based products this year that promise to deliver new architectures, improved performance-per-watt and an expanded feature set. Bryant demonstrated for the first time the next-generation Intel Atom processor family for microservers, codenamed “Avoton,” and confirmed it is currently shipping samples to customers for evaluation. Avoton will feature an integrated Ethernet controller and is expected to deliver industry-leading energy efficiency and performance-per-watt for microservers and scale out workloads.

Re-Architecting the Data Center

Bryant also revealed details on Intel’s plans to develop a reference design for rack scale architecture that uses a suite of Intel technologies optimized for deployment as a full rack. Hyper-scale data centers run by companies that maintain thousands of servers and store vast amounts of data require continued advancements in rack designs that make it easier and more cost effective to deal with major growth in users, data and devices. Traditional rack systems are designed to handle a wide variety of application workloads and may not always achieve the highest efficiency under all hyper-scale usages. The reference design will help re-architect a rack level solution that is modular at the subsystem level (storage, CPU, memory, network) while providing the ability to provision and refresh or logically allocate resources based on application specific workload requirements. Benefits include increased flexibility, higher density and higher utilization leading to a lower total cost of ownership.

Additional information on these announcements as well as the new Intel Atom processor S12x9 product family for storage servers, Intel® Xeon® processor E3v3 product family, Intel Xeon processor E7v2 product family and Intel Atom processor for communication and networking devices codenamed “Rangeley” is available in the news fact sheet.

Reinventing the Computing Experience

During his keynote, Kirk Skaugen, Intel senior vice president and general manager of the PC Client Group, provided a deeper look at the forthcoming 4th generation Intel Core processor family, which he said is now shipping to OEM customers and will launch later this quarter.

“Ultrabooks based on the 4th generation Intel Core processor family will enable exciting, new computing experiences and all-day battery life delivering the most significant battery life capability improvement in Intel’s history,” said Skaugen. “It will also bring to consumers a new wave of ‘two-for-one‘ convertible and detachable systems that combine the best of a full PC experience with the best of a tablet in amazing new form factors.”

NEW Architecture on 22nm Tri Gate NEW Intel Power Optimizer: 20x Power Reduction vs. 2nd gen Intel® Core™ Processors NEW Integrated on package PCH [Platform Controller Hub] for amazing form factors NEW Integrated Audio DSP: more battery life, higher quality Shipping Now and On Track for Q2 2013 Launch

The new Intel Core microarchitecture will allow the company to deliver up to double the graphics performance over the previous generation. In addition, the new graphics solution will have high levels of integration to enable new form factors and designs with excellent visual quality built in. Skaugen demonstrated these graphics improvements on the 4th generation Intel Core processor-based Ultrabook reference design called “Harris Beach.” The demo featured Dirt 3*, a popular gaming title, showing the same visual experience and game play as a discrete graphics card that users would otherwise have to add separately. He also showed the 4th generation Intel Core processor-based concept, codenamed “Niagara,” a premium notebook with the ability to play the unreleased enthusiast title Grid 2* from CodeMasters* without the aid of a discrete graphics card.

Along with touch capability, Intel® Wireless Display (Intel WiDi) will be enabled on all 4th generation Intel Core processor-based Ultrabook devices to allow people to quickly and securely stream content and apps from devices to the big screen, free from the burden of cables. Skaugen said the China ecosystem is taking the lead on integrating Intel WiDi into systems, and announced that the leading television manufacturer in China, TCL*, has a new model with the Intel WiDi technology built in. He also announced new receivers certified for Intel WiDi from QVOD* and Lenovo* and a set-top box from Gehua*.

Illustrating the low-power advances in Ultrabook devices, Skaugen showed off the new Toshiba Portege* Ultrabook detachable, based on the new low-power line of the 3rd generation Intel® Core™ processors.

Furthermore, Skaugen revealed that voice interaction in Mandarin is now available on Ultrabook devices from Intel through Nuance*.

Augmenting the company’s offerings for computing at a variety of price points, Skaugen announced plans for new market variants of its “Bay Trail” 22nm SoC with PC feature sets specifically designed for value convertibles, clamshell laptops, desktops and value all-in-one computers to ship later this year.

Mobile Inside

Tan Weng Kuan, vice president and general manager of the Mobile Communications Group, Intel China, highlighted how the company is working with ecosystem partners to deliver the best smartphone and tablet experiences with Intel inside. Tan discussed the company’s progress with the new Intel® Atom™ processor Z2580 (“Clover Trail+“) for smartphones and the Intel Atom Processor Z2760 (“Clover Trail“) for tablets, both of which are helping to usher in a range of new devices and user experiences.

Taking full advantage of the broad spectrum of capabilities enabled by Intel® architecture, processor technology leadership, manufacturing and multi OS support across Windows* 8 and Android*, Tan discussed the company’s forthcoming smartphone and tablet products based on Intel’s leading-edge 22nm process and an entirely new Atom microarchitecture. Intel’s quad-core Atom SoC (“Bay Trail“) will be the most powerful Atom processor to-date, doubling the computing performance of Intel’s current-generation tablet offering¹. Scheduled for holiday 2013 tablets [in market Q4’13], “Bay Trail” will help enable new experiences and designs as thin as 8mm that have all-day battery life and weeks of standby.

Tan also highlighted Intel’s Atom SoC, codenamed “Merrifield,” which is scheduled to ship to customers by the end of this year [in market Q1’14]. The product will deliver increased smartphone performance, power efficiency and battery life over the current-generation offering.

Tan closed his remarks by calling upon China developers for collective innovation in helping to accelerate and grow the mobile market together. He announced the creation of a China-specific expansion of the company’s platform and ecosystem enabling efforts, focused initially on Atom processor-based tablets running Android*, and designed to speed time-to-market of leading-edge mobile devices based on Intel technology. He added that China developers are instrumental to this effort and will bring speed, scale and ingenuity that will drive new innovation globally.

Day 2 IDF Preview

Doug Fisher, vice president and general manager of Intel’s System Software Division, will open the second day of IDF, addressing several myths surrounding the industry and providing a vision on the vast opportunities that await developers. Specifically, he will showcase Intel’s transformation of the PC experience and advances in device segments, support of multiple operating environments and efforts to help developers scale and modernize computing with new hardware features and software advancements for more compelling user experiences. He will discuss how developers can utilize HTML5 to help lower total costs and improve time-to-market for cross-platform applications development and deployment, incorporate touch and sensor interfaces to modernize applications, and use perceptual compute technologies to enable consumers to interact with PCs via voice control, gesture recognition and more.

Intel Chief Technology Officer Justin Rattner will also take the stage to discuss how Intel Labs is drawing up plans for a bright future. He will reveal a vision for connected and sustainable cities where information technology helps to address challenges of clean air, clean water, better health and improved safety. He will also explain how today’s mobile, urban lifestyle is demanding faster and cheaper wireless broadband communications. Forecasting a move beyond the information age, Rattner will describe a new era coined “the data society” and show how information in the cloud will work on everyone’s behalf, collaboratively and safely, by analyzing and relating different data to deliver new value to individuals, enterprises and society as a whole. Rattner plans to surprise the audience with an exclusive first look at Intel® Silicon Photonics Technology.

This was summarized by Intel in a New Ultrabook™ experiences unveiled at IDF Beijing 2013 [Intel Developer Zone blog, April 16, 2013] post as follows:

Last week at the Intel® Developer Forum held April 10-11, 2013 in Beijing, China, Ultrabooks™ were in the spotlight as new experiences based on the 4^th generation Intel® Core™ processor family were announced:

“Ultrabooks based on the 4th generation Intel Core processor family will enable exciting, new computing experiences and all-day battery life delivering the most significant battery life capability improvement in Intel’s history,” said Skaugen. “It will also bring to consumers a new wave of ‘two-for-one’ convertible and detachable systems that combine the best of a full PC experience with the best of a tablet in amazing new form factors.” – Kirk Skaugen, Intel senior vice president and general manager of the PC Client Group

There are three major factors in this new announcement: amazing graphics, even more Ultrabook form factor designs, and low-power advances creating longer battery life. Touch capability will also be part of this new generation of devices, along with Intel® Wireless Display (Intel WiDi) enabled on all on all 4th generation Intel Core processor-based Ultrabook devices to allow people to quickly and securely stream content and apps from devices to the big screen.

4^th generation Intel® Core™ processors

The Ultrabook computing category was first introduced in 2011 with a 2^nd generation Intel® Core™ processor. This was ramped up greatly in 2012 with the addition of touch and mainstream price points, along with the 3^rdgeneration Intel core processor. In 2013, we get to experience a 4^th generation Intel Core processor and the concept of “2 for 1” computing; basically, we get to experience a table and a PC experience in one machine:

“The new Intel Core microarchitecture will allow the company to deliver up to double the graphics performance over the previous generation. In addition, the new graphics solution will have high levels of integration to enable new form factors and designs with excellent visual quality built in. Skaugen demonstrated these graphics improvements on the 4th generation Intel Core processor-based Ultrabook reference design called “Harris Beach.” The demo featured Dirt 3*, a popular gaming title, showing the same visual experience and game play as a discrete graphics card that users would otherwise have to add separately. He also showed the 4th generation Intel Core processor-based concept, codenamed “Niagara,” a premium notebook with the ability to play the unreleased enthusiast title Grid 2* from CodeMasters* without the aid of a discrete graphics card.” –Intel Newsroom

These new processors will include:

• new architecture on 22nm Tri Gate
• Intel Power Optimizer: 20x power reduction vs. 2^nd gen Intel Core Processors
• integrated on package PCH for amazing form factors
• integrated audio DSP which means more battery life and higher quality

Graphics

With this new generation of processors comes increasingly higher level graphics support, including:

• 3D graphics with up to 2x performance
• integrated on-package EDRAM memory
• API support
• Display with new 3-screen collage display
• enhanced 4k x 2k support
• 2x bandwidth with display port 1.2
• Media with new faster Intel Quick Sync Video
• faster JPEG and MPEG decode
• new OpenCL 1.2 support

(Source: IDF Keynote)

Touch

Touch is becoming more mainstream, and more consumers than ever before are expecting touch as a standard addition to their devices. In an Intel study of touch carried out in December of 2011, users chose touch nearly 80% of the time when given the choice between touch, keyboard, mouse, and track pad. These findings were echoed in another touch study by UX Innovation Manager Daria Loi:

“With touch capability becoming available in more and more Ultrabook devices, Intel undertook a research program to better understand if and how people might use touch capabilities in more traditional, notebook form-factor devices…… To spoil the ending, the results were positive-very positive, in fact. Users who were presented with a way to interact with their computers via touch, keyboard, and mouse found it an extremely natural and fluid way of working. One user described it using the Italian word simpatico-literally, that her computer was in tune with her and sympathetic to her demands.” – “The Human Touch: Building Ultrabook™ Applications in a Post-PC Age” [Intel Developer Zone blog, July 11, 2012]

Touch designs in Ultrabook form factors continue to ramp up, especially with the October 2012 launch of Windows*8, and this trend is expected to continue.

Power

One of the most intriguing announcements to come out of Beijing was the idea of heightened power consumption for the Ultrabook. Chips for notebooks, phones, and tablets are going to be greatly enhanced, boosting both runtime and standby power:

“By effectively removing nearly 3W of background drain, all operations are going to benefit, not just idle. Where Internet browsing was a 9W operation, expect to see that go down to around 6W for a big increase in battery life….. By reducing the mainboard size, space is created for more battery. Intel says there’s a chance to fit 20-45% more battery inside when motherboard sizes are reduced using HDI techniques.” – Ultrabooknews.com

Higher power expectations ties in with the announcement of 4^th generation Intel Core processor Ultrabook systems that are coming out as early as June 2013 and on track for Q2 2013 launch.

Ultrabooks: just getting started

The experience you can expect from an Ultrabook with the new 4^th generation core processor is, in a word, superior. These are extremely responsive machines that offer amazing performance, a natural UI with touch and voice, and AOAC (always on always connected) as a given. You also get to take advantage of Intel Identity Protection, anti-virus, facial log-in, vPro, and Small Business Advantage so your data is always safe. The machine itself is meant to be mobile, with all-day battery life, thinner lighter designs, and Intel Wireless Display. And let’s not forget that it just looks cool; great visuals, 2 in 1 convertibles and detachable form factors, not to mention a high res display.

Ultrabook as a PC category is continuing to drive market innovation; we’re seeing thinner form factors, intriguing designs (convertibles, detachable, etc.), and more natural human/computer interaction, such as voice control integration. Ultrabooks are able to deliver what is essentially a mobile computing experience; we’re looking at consumption usages similar to that of a smartphone or a tablet, with the productivity potential and sheer computing power of that of a full-blown PC. Is it a notebook or is it a tablet? The beauty of an Ultrabook is that it’s both.