Only 20 percent of smartphones sold last year had dual-core chips, but among those, Samsung sold the lion’s share: 60 percent of all dual core smartphones sold in 2011 had a Samsung processor. Who’s poised best to challenge in 2012? Only one company for now. Read More »
Mobile
“The x86 power myth is finally busted. …If you’ve been expecting the first x86 smartphone to end up at the bottom of every battery life chart, you’ll be sorely disappointed.”
-- Brian Klug, reviewing the Intel powered X900 smartphone for AnandTech.com
HTC is planning to develop its own application processors for smartphones and could partner with ST Ericsson. The company’s new HTC ImageChip works great in the new One handsets, but why reinvent the wheel for smartphone silicon; especially if these will go in low-end Android handsets? Read More »
The first commercially available Intel smartphone debuts in India this month with the launch of the Xolo X900. The Android 2.3 handset with high-resolution screen looks quite capable with a 10 frame per second burst mode. Has Intel licked the power challenge of mobile devices? Read More »
Interest in Microsoft Windows 8 tablets is waning, says Forrester, with nearly half of those who wanted such a device at the beginning of 2011 no longer interested. Time is against Microsoft, but there’s still some hope for success due to both hardware and software strategies. Read More »
Notebook makers are reportedly bidding on chip supplies from both Intel and those provided by vendors using the ARM architecture, presumably to compete better on pricing with Apple. The real story is that the next round of chip wars between Intel and ARM licensees is here. Read More »
Texas Instruments has ceded much of the mobile chip market to Qualcomm and Nvidia, but is ready to challenge with a new OMAP 4 chip. The dual-core processor paired with a PowerVR graphics core can power smartphones, tablets and even notebook computers running Linux or Windows. Read More »
Facing a growing challenge from mobile chips based on ARM architecture, Intel is coining a new name for old devices. Ultrabooks will be sub-$1,000 notebooks that are thin, light and more capable than netbooks. Is this a rehash of the failed CULV experiment from 2009? Read More »
The first dual-core Android tablets only arrived in February, but Nvidia is already showing off an improved quad-core chip it expects in tablets by August. A video demo of the chip, codenamed “Kal-El,” shows impressive performance: enough that some consumers may wait to buy a tablet. Read More »
LG, the South Korean makers of phones televisions, household appliances and a variety of other consumer devices has licensed the ARM-based chip cores that can be found in devices from handsets to set-top-boxes. Once again, a vendor has forgotten to invite Intel to the party. Read More »
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