Intel says it will increase the battery life of tablets and hybrid PCs that use its microprocessors, with new low-power Haswell chips that will start shipping later this year.

The chip maker said Tuesday that its upcoming Core Y series chips will run at 4.5-watts using a metric called SDP (scenario design power), which measures the power used to dissipate heat while running certain apps on mobile and touch devices.

That’s a lower figure than Intel was aiming for initially, Intel spokesman Dan Snyder said via e-mail. Intel previously said it would release Core Y chips with a 6-watt SDP.

Intel’s use of SDP has been criticized, however, since it differs from the widely-used and accepted TDP (Thermal Design Power) metric. Intel counters that TDP may not be applicable on devices such as tablets, because they differ so much in design from laptops. Rivals such as Advanced Micro Devices disagree.

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