For the most part, Intel’s been left out in the cold when it comes to tablets and smartphones. While the company’s processors are relatively powerful compared to mobile-centric processors from competitors like Qualcomm and Marvell, they aren’t able to eke out nearly as much battery life.
To address the growing tablet market Intel unveiled its “Oak Trail” processor design in June, promising that it’s “optimized for sleek tablet and netbook designs” and will be available in early 2011.
Intel CEO Paul Otellini reaffirmed that promise recently, telling industry analysts that his company’s processors will power 35 tablets from brands such as Dell, Toshiba, Lenovo and Asus by the middle of next year.
Otellini added that Intel’s smartphone-specific “Medfield” processors will begin showing up next year as well, saying, “You will see smartphones from premier branded vendors in the second half of 2011 with Intel silicon inside them,” according to Reuters.
Intel will be playing a fair amount of catch-up over the next couple of years, especially as tablets and smartphones begin to erode sales of conventional portable computers. The company has the facilities and money to make a big long term push, though, and Otellini’s attitude that competing in the smartphone segment is “a marathon, not a sprint,” according to Reuters, will likely turn out to be pretty accurate over the next decade or so.
More on Techland:
New Intel Atom Z600 CPUs Coming to Tablets and Phones
Dual-Core Netbooks Slowly Starting to Trickle Out
China’s Supercomputer Fastest in the World, Has American Parts