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Intel and Microsoft team up on mobile

by on03 March 2015


Two also rans also run

The two also rans in the mobile race, Intel and Microsoft are teaming up to improve their market position.

Microsoft’s Windows Phone OSes worked only with ARM-based processors from Qualcomm and while Windows 10 works on ARM systems, compatibility with Intel x86 chips means that it does not have to.

It looks like the Windows 10 mobile OS will run on handsets and so-called phablets powered by Intel’s upcoming Atom X3 chips, code-named Sofia, announced by the chip maker at the Mobile World Congress trade show.

Devices with the X3 chips will be priced from under $75 to $249. The X3 chips will also be offered in Android handsets. Windows Phone hasn’t taken the smartphone market by storm, going into just 34.9 million handsets, amounting to a market share of just 2.7 percent, in 2014. Mind you Intel chips did not do that well in the mobile world either.

However Intel thinks that Windows mobile adoption will increase and it is likely that a WinTel alliance might help Chipzilla again. It’s not yet known which vendors will use Intel chips in Windows 10 smartphones. The first dual-core Atom X3 chips will be in 3G smartphones in the first quarter of the year, and quad-core X3 chips with LTE are coming in the second half.

Atom X3-based smartphones could be basic, at best. A Sofia smartphone will have “quality graphics,” high-definition video, a 13-megapixel rear camera and 5-megapixel front camera, Evans said.

The graphics core in X3 is based on years-old ARM technology called Mali, which Intel obtained with the acquisition of Infineon wireless. Intel has partnered with Chinese chip maker Rockchip to design some of the X3 chips.

Asus is the only big-name vendor that will sell devices with Atom X3 chips. Intel is leaning on China device makers to develop products, much like it did with tablets.

 

Last modified on 03 March 2015
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