The architecture behind the Intel Silvermont system-on-a-chip could help the semiconductor company take on the mobile CPU space currently dominated by ARM processors.

That’s because this 22-nanometer successor to the Saltwell microprocessor is being rebuilt for mobile technology in mind, specifically power-critical devices like smartphones and tablets.

Intel estimates that Silvermont will be able to provide about three times the peak performance as Atom processors like the Z2580.

Alternatively, the new SoC will be able to achieve roughly the same performance as current generation Atom processors at 5 times the lower power.

The first of many

Silvermont, the first Intel chip to employ the next-generation low-power microarchitecture, won’t be the last, according to Dadi Perlmutter, Intel executive vice president and chief product officer.

"Early sampling of our 22nm SoCs, including ‘Bay Trail’ and ‘Avoton’ is already garnering positive feedback from our customers," said Perlmutter in a press release.

“Going forward, we will accelerate future generations of this low-power microarchitecture on a yearly cadence."

Intel’s commitment to yearly refreshes of its mobile-focused technology is already in the planning stages. This includes a 14nm processor codenamed Airmont with a release date expected in 2014.

With Intel Silvermont promising architecture that delivers industry-leading performance-per-watt efficiency, the semiconductor company may finally be able to make headway with its Atom processors.

A poorly sourced article today claimed that parts and components for Apple's next iPhone have begun arriving at Chinese manufacturers.

Apple blog Patently Apple cited "a new Chinese report" and claimed that "Apple's noisy supply chain is at it again."

Manufacturers along that supply chain have supposedly begun receiving the parts that will be necessary to build the next iPhone, which Patently Apple refers to as the iPhone 5S.

However, it's unknown what Apple's next smartphone will actually be called, as the Cupertino company could very well skip straight to the iPhone 6 or something else entirely.

An early iPhone release?

Patently Apple claimed that those unnamed Chinese sources believe production on the new iPhone will actually begin in July, as two months between parts arriving and production beginning is reportedly standard.

Further, Foxconn's Apple product production lines are supposedly the manufacturing giant's most efficient facilities, and Foxconn (also known as Hon Hai) has plans to bring the rest of its lines up to speed this year.

The implication in all of this is that Apple has moved up its parts deliveries so that it can launch the next iPhone earlier than the traditional annual September release it's stuck to in the past.

Rumors surrounding the release of the next iPhone involve multiple versions of Apple's new flagship, with a cheaper iPhone possibly launching at some point as well as the requisite iPhone 5S/iPhone 6.

Either way, recent research suggested that iPhone users will likely elbow past Android fans by 2015, and Apple may have something up its sleeves to help ensure that that happens.

Nokia's next Lumia phone, thought to be called the Lumia 925, will be unveiled on May 14, said a report today.

Hot Hardware repeated a claim on an unnamed Chinese-language Windows blog that the Lumia 925 will be revealed during a May 14 event in London.

Nokia previously teased that the event will continue "the Nokia Lumia story."

The Finnish phone maker has not mentioned the Lumia 925 in any official capacity, but whispers of a device codenamed "Catwalk" have been circulating for months. That device is thought to be the Lumia 925, the next successor in Nokia's Lumia line of Windows Phone 8 smartphones and the follow-up to the Lumia 920.

Lumia 925 Catwalk rumors

The last we heard of the Nokia device codenamed Catwalk was a vague rumor early in April that it would be unveiled May 15.

If today's reports are accurate, that rumor will not have been far off the mark.

The Nokia Catwalk first appeared in rumors in January, and even then it was presumed to be a Lumia 920 successor.

That report suggested that the high-end Catwalk would sport a thinner and lighter aluminum body rather than past Lumias' typical polycarbonate chassis.

Today's report on Hot Hardware repeated that claim, though its veracity has yet to be verified.

Other rumored specs for the Lumia 925 include a 4.5-inch 1280 x 768 OLED display, a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, 1GB of memory, 16GB of storage, a non-detachable battery, and an 8.7-megapixel back camera.

We've asked Nokia to confirm additional details about the planned announcement on May 14, but we haven't heard back yet.