If Intel's new Medfield project works like they hope, smart phone performance will rival that of laptops over the next two years.  Much like NVIDIA's "system on a chip" Tegra, Intel is aiming to bring high performance, low cost processors to handsets and internet devices.

The market is deciding things for Intel and other chip makers so they have to adapt.  As desktop and laptop growth has tapered somewhat, netbooks and smartphones have just gotten started.  No longer are people needing high end power machines just to browse web, email, and stay connected. As Electricpig points out, "soon the only difference you’d have between a netbook and a smartphone would be screen size."

While Intel works on Moorestown and Medfield, NVIDIA is prepping Tegra for release.  Toss in Qualcomm's Snapdragon and Texas Instruments' OMAP 4 and you have four system-on-a-chip solutions to choose from.  As they fight for market share on MID's and smartphones, the end users get to reap the benefits.

Fun Fact: All four companies listed above are members of the Open Handset Alliance.

Source: CNN Fortune