An improved microprocessor and a deal with Google could lead to more Intel chips in mobile devices.
Intel has announced a line of more power-efficient microprocessors for smart phones and tablets that could help recapture some of this increasingly valuable market segment. At the Intel Developers Forum (IDF) in San Francisco this week, the company also announced that it's forming an alliance with Google to get the Android operating system released more quickly for Intel hardware.
Intel now finds itself in an unfamiliar, and uncomfortable, position. Having dominated the computer landscape for years by churning out faster and faster chips, it now lags behind in the race to create more energy-efficient microchips for smart phones and tablets—two rapidly growing hardware categories that are eating into sales of desktop and laptop computers.
The majority of smart phones and tablets on the market today, including the iPhone and iPad, use chips designed by ARM, a U.K. company that licenses microchip designs. Nvidia, Freescale, Texas Instruments, Samsung, and other companies manufacture ARM chips. The first Intel microchip aimed at the mobile market—the Atom—was released in 2008, but it proved less power-efficient than comparable ARM chips. Because battery life is prized in mobile devices, no major manufacturer is using Atom chips in its devices.
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