Intel and Spreadtrum announce 8 core x86 smartphone SoC with LTE

[randomhkkid]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/11196/mwc-2017-spreadtrum-launches-8core-intel-airmontbased-soc-with-cat-7-lte-for-smartphones

 

Spreadtrum's 8-Core Airmont SoC
	SC9861G-IA
CPU Cores	8 × Intel Airmont at up to 2 GHz
GPU	PowerVR GT7200
Imaging Capabilities	Up to 26 MP, up to two 13 MP sensors
Video	4Kp30, HEVC
Display Controller	2560 × 1440
Modem	TD-LTE/FDD LTE/TD-SCDMA/WCDMA/EGG LTE Category 7 (DL: 300Mbps, UL: 100Mbps)
Process Technology	14 nm

Quote

The Spreadtrum SC9861G-IA SoC features eight Intel’s Airmont cores with running at up to 2 GHz, with Imagination Technology's PowerVR GT7200 GPU. Also integrated is Spreadtrum's own 5-mode LTE Cat 7 modem (up to 300 Mbps download, up to 100 Mbps upload). The SoC also integrates an ISP that supports up to two 13 MP camera sensors, a dedicated sensor hub, and hardware-based decoders/encoders for HEVC and other popular video codecs that support up to 3840×2160 resolution. The display controller can handle resolutions up to 2560×1600.

This actually looks super interesting. These are the latest generation Cherry trail cores (Surface 3) that are in the latest Atom generation. Intel have struggled in the past because of lack of built in LTE, this looks to have been addressed this time around.

 

No word on TDP but this chip look pretty high end on the CPU side, unfortunately that GPU isn't really competitive, it has 1/3 of the cores of the iPhone 6s GPU.

[Coaxialgamer]

I mean why not, but intel lost a fuckton of money on it's mobile SoC business. 

[8uhbbhu8]

Well this is going to get interesting! I want to see what the actual performance is like compared to android phones also x86 hmm..... Kinda want to try running xp on this

[Stefan1024]

But will it run Windows XP?

The IPhone 7 can.....

 

Anyway, there are some good use cases for a low power, but quite powerful SoC that can run x86 natively. But I won't count in phonen for one of them.

[Tape]

Looks pretty interesting, wanna see what they can do with it as intel has struggled with compatibility issues with their mobile processors in the past

[VerticalDiscussions]

Surface Pro 5 Lite in the air lol?

[Nowak]

Intel returning to the phone business? Interesting.

[shermantanker]

15 minutes ago, Coaxialgamer said:

I mean why not, but intel lost a fuckton of money on it's mobile SoC business. 

Well they do still have many f***tons of many. Maybe something will stick lol.

[tsk]

58 minutes ago, Daring said:

Intel returning to the phone business? Interesting.

No, this is not an Intel product and will contain no Intel branding. It simply uses Intel cores for the processor.

[LAwLz]

Wait... GT7200?

So it's a 2.5 years old mid-range GPU...?

 

And Airmont cores? If you're going to make a new chip then why use the old architecture and not Goldmont.

Airmont is just a dieshrink of Silvermont, which came out in late 2013.

 

So this chip is a 3 year old CPU architecture with a 2.5 year old midrange GPU. It most likely won't support DDR4 (since no Airmont chip has so far) so that's a big hit to performance as well.

 

 

I can see this doing well in exactly 1 category. Super cheap computers that you still want to run Windows on. So for example maybe a HDMI stick that you plug into your TV. Or possibly a really cheap and low end laptop. That's pretty much it though. I would not touch this with a 10 foot pole if they put it inside a phone.

[ChickenCake248]

I would really like to see Intel work some magic to put their iGPU solutions on phones. They recently have been getting (relatively) really good performance in their integrated graphics.

[goodtofufriday]

I would love a phone that supports the full range of x86 programs. I dont use my phone for gaming at all so ill likely be fine with gpu performance. 

[alamox]

10 hours ago, Coaxialgamer said:

I mean why not, but intel lost a fuckton of money on it's mobile SoC business. 

who cares, they waste money then they spread the loss on margins of other products you buy like CPUs, SSDs...

[captain_to_fire]

I don't know if it will do Intel any favors to invest on something that crashed and burned before. I don't even think they'll reach what Qualcomm had achieved with the Snapdragon 835 but it's probably good for low end phones and tablets. 

https://www.qualcomm.com/products/snapdragon/processors/835