Intel reveals Merrifield processor in new smartphone reference design, promises 'integrated sensor hub'

Intel unveiled its first reference design for its new 22nm Merrifield smartphone processor. Showed off on stage by Tom Killroy, Executive Vice President of Sales at Intel at the company's Computex keynote, the new chip reportedly won't reach consumers til early 2014, but it promises (like Intel's other new series) performance gains and a substantial reduction in power consumption through an "entirely new Atom architecture." The hardware itself is pretty unassuming, but (at least from this distance) we reckon we're looking at a 4-inch device -- given how close initial models were to the Intel Medfield smartphones, it's worth some scrutiny.
Other notable features include an "integrated sensor hub" for personalized services and privacy protection. Whether that's eye-based, finger-based or otherwise, we'll tell you more about that when we hear it.