Intel has confirmed that it will start shipping out its most power-efficient mainstream processor to date—the 4th generation core Haswell chip—but the company admitted that there is a bug in the accompanying chipset.

A statement sent to the media on Friday said that the new Intel chip, although on track for a mid-year launch, has a bug that can affect USB 3.0 ports. But it still said that the chipset with the errata will still be in production for the initial ramp. Intel assured customers that the bug wouldn’t affect files and softwares, and that it has only been observed on a small subset of USB SuperSpeed thumb drives.

Intel added that said the bug won’t affect other USB peripherals. It also told customers that they should contact the company if they think the bug affected more than what it should. It encouraged consumers to contact Intel technical and customer support.

According to Intel, Haswell chip is now shipping to customers and will be available by the end of this quarter. The company is expected to expound on this and give more details during the IDF Beijing conference next week. We can then expect Intel to demonstrate just how powerful and energy-efficient their new mainstream processor is.

Haswell is considered the 4th generation of Intel mainstream processors, and it is expected to power Ultrabooks and a variety of hybrids that has the capacity and designs of tablets and laptops. According to Paul Otellini, the chief executive officer of Intel, Haswell’s microarchitecture is the largest battery life improvement in Intel’s history.

Aside from this new chip, Intel will reportedly be making another announcement too—the Merrifield. It is the next-generation Atom chip for smartphones. Merrifield is expected to ship to customers by the end of this year.

As for tablets, Intel’s Bay Trail is expected to come out the same time as Merrifield. According to reports, the quad-core Bay Trail is currently the most powerful Atom processor. It can double the speed of Clover Trail+, the chipset currently being used by tablet companies.

So maybe by next year, we can all expect laptops and personal computers running on Haswell chip. It is expected to double battery life, as well as improve the performance of Ultrabooks running on the current Ivy Bridge processors. The power consumption of Haswell was cut in such a way that it can run in tablets, which gave us a pretty clear idea of what we will find inside the next generation tablets.

Sales of Ultrabooks have been underwhelming. The public didn’t quite bit into the craze, so manufacturers are hoping that the release of the Haswell chip will increase the interest of consumers, especially as Intel’s chip boasts of upgrade in performance and battery life. Of course, Haswell’s compatibility with tablets will also aid in that much needed sales boost. Since consumers are more inclined now to purchase tablets than laptops and PCs, I am sure that there is a market this new chip can target.