MWC 2013: Intel makes a splash with dual-core Clover Trail+ and quad-core Bay Trail mobile CPUs

Intel’s attempt to find a foothold in the SoC market has just got a boost. The company has announced its first dual-core Atom processors (Clover Trail+) for smartphones and tablets.

The Clover Trail+ Z2580 (2.0GHz), Z2560 (1.6GHz) and Z2520 (1.2GHz) CPUs are all 32nm processors. The company says these processors will deliver "industry-leading performance" thanks to the hyper-threading technology. Intel has also supposedly changed the battery performance of the new chip. The company says that the new processors will match the performance of all current high-end devices.

Intel showed up at MWC with four new processors

The three CPUs support full HD resolutions up to 1900 x 1200, Android 4.2 and have HSPA+ 42Mbps modems. The chipmaker has already inked pacts with ASUS, ZTE and Lenovo to bring devices with Clover Trail+.

The graphics processor of the SoC is the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator engine, which supports video in 1080p, playable at 30 fps. It also boosts graphics performance up to three times over the last-gen graphics engine using a core that supports 533MHz using boost mode. The new Atom platform supports two cameras with 16MP sensor at the most. Intel says the camera on a Clover Trail+ can shoot up to 15 frames per second in burst mode.

Intel also announced the quad-core Bay Trail processor line for use in tablets. Performance of the new processor is said to be double that of the last-generation tablet CPU. Intel claims it can produce this line using 8nm technology in the future. The Bay Trail processor will be making an appearance in Android and Windows 8 tablets by the holiday season with the likes of Acer, ASUS, HP, Lenovo, LG Electronics and Samsung producing devices.

The company also said that it will make a transition to 22nm Atom SoCs later this year for what would probably be a 2014 deployment.

Finally, Intel’s chips will likely bring power-efficient multimode and multiband LTE along with them. The company announced the XMM 7160 LTE chip, which supports a massive 15 LTE bands simultaneously. The chip also contains the SKU that also gives OEMs connectivity for LTE, DC-HSPA+ and EDGE. The company hopes to ship the LTE chip with its new line of processors by the end of the year.

“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,” Hermann Eul, Vice President and Co-General Manager - Mobile and Communications Group, Intel, said. “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.”