The ones aimed at embedded devices are likely to have higher power requirements. It has little to do with sales volume and more to do with margin. They're intentionally killing off the cheap Windows tablet market so they can push higher-end tablets with high-margin Core M or better. This will probably continue until they get competition in this market segment.
It's a shame as the top model mobile Apollo Lake would have been a nice upgrade for a Surface 4.
We have seen nothing that suggests that we will see Atom cores in tablets.
Nobody has specifically announced that we won't see Atom in tablets, but this announcement may never happen. We will just have to spend time observing the absence of Atom tablets.
Even when Apollo Lake is released and is seen not to have reasonable thermal characteristics, not to have s0ix etc., no doubt someone will say that a different chip could be released later on that could be used in a tablet.
Thanks. The information I was referring to is in the original Anandtech article detailing the scrapping of Broxton:
What's less clear at the moment is whether this will also impact the low-cost/non-premium tablet market, as embodied by products such as the Surface 3. In their updated statement, Intel has told us that Broxton is cancelled for both "phones and tablets." Our current understanding is that Broxton is the SoC at the heart of the Willow Trail platform – the successor to the widely used Cherry Trail-T – but at this time Intel has not explicitly confirmed whether this is in fact Willow Trail, or if Broxton's tablet variation represented another platform altogether. Though regardless of what happens with traditional tablets, we'll continue see Intel in more premium tablet-like devices such as 2-in-1s (e.g. Surface Pro) via Apollo Lake and the Core processor lineup, as Intel has previously identified convertable devices as a growth market for the company.
"Update 5/02: In a newer statement, Intel has confirmed that Apollo Lake will be offered to tablet manufacturers. At this point it's not clear what the tradeoffs are for that versus Willow Trail, and whether Apollo Lake is suitable for all types of devices that the current-generation Cherry Trail has been used in. But this does mean we will see tablets using the Goldmont CPU core, while Intel Intel will flesh out the rest of their tablet SoCs with Core-based parts. Intel will also "continue to support" their tablet customers with Bay Trail, Cherry Trail, and SoFIA parts.'
--that to me suggests we'll see fanless Goldmont-based cores in tablets.
Yes, I read that and even sent my third lifetime tweet to Ian Cutress, pointing out that Apollo Lake has only been discussed by Intel in relation to "Cloudbooks". Predecessor chips in this class did not support s0ix and platform power has been over 6 Watts, and there is every sign that will be the case again. This makes them unsuitable for tablets, but clearly there is no universal definition of "tablet" so it is possible something will be released that could be so classified. It wouldn't be the Surface 4 though.
I think, sadly, you're right. I've experienced two Bay Trail tablets, one running Android and the other Windows 10 (presents for my dad and sister), and rather liked them. It will be a shame if they were a short-lived anomaly. It does look like, performance-wise, A9X and Core M are comparable, so I guess that left no place for a cheap but uncompetitive (versus Apple) tablet CPU. Even if it would've run Andoid or Windows 10 just fine.
That's one super-reflective chip in the first picture; you can even see the lens ring around the smartphone being used to take the picture. Was it lapped?
Despite the planned H2 release, when can we expect to see Apollo Lake available in Chromebooks and Cloudbooks? Laptops using the refreshed Braswell chips (eg: N3060) are just starting to become available. The retail channel is still stuffed with Bay Trail machines (N2840). I am inclined to believe we won't see Apollo Lake in actual products before Q2 2017.
Intel GPU sucks as a rule...replaced 3 generations of atom powered SFF itx in favour of AMD specifically because of graphics issues, AMD CPU on board ITX may not be the fastest, but rarely have video or driver issues on win 10....wake up Intel...your Atom drivers SUCK!
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BucksterMcgee - Friday, July 15, 2016 - link
Any speculation if this could be what the next version of HoloLens uses?ianmills - Friday, July 15, 2016 - link
The GPU power is pretty limited...hojnikb - Friday, July 15, 2016 - link
I wonder if this supports HEVC@10bitif it does and minipc will be cheap enough, i might consider replacing my trusty ol' Z3735F
vladx - Friday, July 15, 2016 - link
Yes it does unlike Cherry Trail who's only 8-bit HEVC.ToTTenTranz - Friday, July 15, 2016 - link
Is there any technical reason why Apollo Lake can't go into high-ish end 10" tablets like the Surface non-Pro?vladx - Friday, July 15, 2016 - link
Because Intel tried that already and just doesn't sell well unless they're cheap tablets.Alexvrb - Sunday, July 17, 2016 - link
The ones aimed at embedded devices are likely to have higher power requirements. It has little to do with sales volume and more to do with margin. They're intentionally killing off the cheap Windows tablet market so they can push higher-end tablets with high-margin Core M or better. This will probably continue until they get competition in this market segment.It's a shame as the top model mobile Apollo Lake would have been a nice upgrade for a Surface 4.
Morawka - Friday, July 15, 2016 - link
how is this soc gonna perform in SOHO Nas units?Meteor2 - Saturday, July 16, 2016 - link
It's still not clear to me if we're going to see Intel chips which are not Core M in tablets. Information seems to be contradictory.Klug4Pres - Saturday, July 16, 2016 - link
We have seen nothing that suggests that we will see Atom cores in tablets.Nobody has specifically announced that we won't see Atom in tablets, but this announcement may never happen. We will just have to spend time observing the absence of Atom tablets.
Even when Apollo Lake is released and is seen not to have reasonable thermal characteristics, not to have s0ix etc., no doubt someone will say that a different chip could be released later on that could be used in a tablet.
Don't hold your breath.
Meteor2 - Sunday, July 17, 2016 - link
Thanks. The information I was referring to is in the original Anandtech article detailing the scrapping of Broxton:What's less clear at the moment is whether this will also impact the low-cost/non-premium tablet market, as embodied by products such as the Surface 3. In their updated statement, Intel has told us that Broxton is cancelled for both "phones and tablets." Our current understanding is that Broxton is the SoC at the heart of the Willow Trail platform – the successor to the widely used Cherry Trail-T – but at this time Intel has not explicitly confirmed whether this is in fact Willow Trail, or if Broxton's tablet variation represented another platform altogether. Though regardless of what happens with traditional tablets, we'll continue see Intel in more premium tablet-like devices such as 2-in-1s (e.g. Surface Pro) via Apollo Lake and the Core processor lineup, as Intel has previously identified convertable devices as a growth market for the company.
"Update 5/02: In a newer statement, Intel has confirmed that Apollo Lake will be offered to tablet manufacturers. At this point it's not clear what the tradeoffs are for that versus Willow Trail, and whether Apollo Lake is suitable for all types of devices that the current-generation Cherry Trail has been used in. But this does mean we will see tablets using the Goldmont CPU core, while Intel Intel will flesh out the rest of their tablet SoCs with Core-based parts. Intel will also "continue to support" their tablet customers with Bay Trail, Cherry Trail, and SoFIA parts.'
--that to me suggests we'll see fanless Goldmont-based cores in tablets.
Klug4Pres - Sunday, July 17, 2016 - link
Yes, I read that and even sent my third lifetime tweet to Ian Cutress, pointing out that Apollo Lake has only been discussed by Intel in relation to "Cloudbooks". Predecessor chips in this class did not support s0ix and platform power has been over 6 Watts, and there is every sign that will be the case again. This makes them unsuitable for tablets, but clearly there is no universal definition of "tablet" so it is possible something will be released that could be so classified. It wouldn't be the Surface 4 though.Meteor2 - Sunday, July 17, 2016 - link
I think, sadly, you're right. I've experienced two Bay Trail tablets, one running Android and the other Windows 10 (presents for my dad and sister), and rather liked them. It will be a shame if they were a short-lived anomaly. It does look like, performance-wise, A9X and Core M are comparable, so I guess that left no place for a cheap but uncompetitive (versus Apple) tablet CPU. Even if it would've run Andoid or Windows 10 just fine.londedoganet - Saturday, July 16, 2016 - link
That's one super-reflective chip in the first picture; you can even see the lens ring around the smartphone being used to take the picture. Was it lapped?ArdWar - Saturday, July 16, 2016 - link
Every silicon wafer for semiconductor fabbing is polished down to sub-nanometer scale.Heck, if you slice the crystal right, you can have almost zero rougness.
BernardP - Monday, July 18, 2016 - link
Despite the planned H2 release, when can we expect to see Apollo Lake available in Chromebooks and Cloudbooks? Laptops using the refreshed Braswell chips (eg: N3060) are just starting to become available. The retail channel is still stuffed with Bay Trail machines (N2840). I am inclined to believe we won't see Apollo Lake in actual products before Q2 2017.Aclive - Saturday, July 23, 2016 - link
Intel GPU sucks as a rule...replaced 3 generations of atom powered SFF itx in favour of AMD specifically because of graphics issues, AMD CPU on board ITX may not be the fastest, but rarely have video or driver issues on win 10....wake up Intel...your Atom drivers SUCK!