Or is this one market that they just can’t compete in?
Intel have been the big boys in the PC processor market for decades. I can remember my families first IBM PC running on an Intel 486DX2, and that was back in 1994. Sure there have been competitors, but Intel has always managed to be innovative enough to stay the market leader.
It’s not been the same for the smartphone and tablet market though. There, ARM is king.
ARM never made it big in the desktop market, they tried in the 90’s but Intel and Microsoft were seemingly too popular to dislodge. They’ve always been in charge when it comes to smartphones though, where low power requirements and small instruction sets are the way forward.
But now Intel are starting to develop Atom processors that will power a new generation of portable devices.
It’s easy to see why Intel would want to get into this market; many within the industry predict that smartphone and tablet sales will continue to eat into the profits of PC manufacturers unless they churn out their own touchscreen devices.
Intel has some decent backing in this endeavor, UK mobile network Orange recently outed an own-brand smartphone powered by one of Intel’s chips, and Motorola, who actually used to MAKE processors for Apple, amongst others.Viral video by ebuzzing
That’s a really strange turn of events; a company that used to make processors for other companies, now turning to Intel to provide chips for their own devices.
What do you think? Can Intel gain any ground in this market, or will ARM continue to dominate in handhelds? Comment below…