An Intel executive is said to have made comments this week that corroborate reports of a Netwon-like mini-tablet under development at Apple. Could this be the next iPhone, or non-related?

Intel Germany chief Hannes Schwaderer reportedly spilled the beans saying the device is expected to be powered by one of his firm’s Atom ultra-mobile device chipsets.

The device has been described by sources as an ultra-thin akin to the iPhone and running an embedded version of the Mac OS X Leopard operating system.

As you’ll notice, the device may be considerably larger than the iPhone. I would imagine that would be a little difficult to use as a phone. Either way, the device is going to be a neat gadget to play with.