Earlier this week, we saw Intel's new lineup of desktop and notebook processors [1]. To boil it down, they're a bit cheaper and a whole lot faster. Obviously, Intel is readying itself to do battle with AMD's Barcelona in August [2], though it remains to be seen just how much of a threat Barcelona will pose. While AMD and Intel are gearing up for a massive performance battle, the companies' most recent financial results tell a very different story. While Intel's Q2 results mostly were solid, excepting a few financial scars from lower chip prices, AMD's were disastrous--the company lost $600 million, or $1.09 a share, in the second quarter. On the bright side, the company did manage to gain a little marketshare from Intel, reversing the previous trend. Some, however, have attributed this to fluctuating chip prices, not an increase in shipments on the part of AMD. "The main cause of the market-share reversal of fortune was a decline in Intel's microprocessor Average Selling Prices (ASPs)," explained Matthew Wilkins, iSuppli analyst. "This caused Intel's revenue share to decline-although its microprocessor unit shipments were up sequentially." Obviously AMD has sailed into some choppy waters--will Barcelona be the savior that the company so sorely needs?

For more on the ongoing battle:
- see this ZDnet article [3] on Q2 financials
- and this eWeek article [4] on the ongoing battle for marketshare