Intel Corp (INTC)

[wbmw]

In BYT-T technical session, BYT architect stated that Merrifield would be PowerVR. Perhaps Rogue?

This is interesting. It could be that the same Gen7 core could not achieve the performance per watt requirements of a phone SOC, and that the performance just dropped off too rapidly below the 2W level. A Rogue based design could yield better performance characteristics in the 500-1000 mW range, while potentially being smaller and more cost efficient to implement.

Also, Intel phones so far are Android-only, meaning they don't need to muck around with a Windows driver for Imagination graphics - something that had plagued them on every generation prior to Bay Trail.

I think this is an interesting data point, and I'll be interested in seeing how it performs relative to other phone SOCs. It could end up blowing Tegra 4i out of the water, and give Snapdragon 600 a run for the money (even with half the cores).