Nintendo has not been particularly eager to announce a lot of the technical information relating the Wii U's CPU and GPU. However, a hacker known as Marcan claims to have details of the contents the new Nintendo console.
According to his findings, the three-core processor runs at just 1.243125 GHz per core, slower than its competitors such as the Xbox 360 and PS3 running at 3.0 GHz. The GPU apparently runs at 549.999755MHz which is slightly faster than the Xbox 360, but equal to the PS3.
Nintendo's Wii, the console that was supposed to be competing with the Xbox 360 and PS 3, only ran at a maximum of 729 MHz on its CPU.
With the Wii U being billed as the first next generation console, a number of pundits figured that Nintendo would build a more powerful machine that would surpass the technical aspects of the PS3 and Xbox 360. This may arguably not be the case with Nintendo's new system if this report is indeed true.
Throughout the years, the Big N has discretely emphasized engagement & playability over graphical power and now the company seems to be more interested in creating a new experience with the GamePad. A great deal of the technological innovation likely went into the Pad, and the company probably may have had to cut some costs with the actual console in order to accommodate both at a reasonable price.
This news may give Nintendo critics a great deal to talk about, but it really says little about whether or not the Wii U will succeed. The Wii had far inferior graphical capacity than its rivals and still managed to outsell them considerably.