About time. Intel’s chips will finally to be found in smartphones this year. The company announced on Tuesday that Lenovo would release a phone with an Intel processor in China in the second quarter, and that Motorola would ship Intel phones in the second half. But the real hurdles are gaining significant market share and making money.
Even if the products roll out as promised, Intel will have a long way to go in a market where chips based on Arm Holdings’ designs have 100 per cent market share. Why would handset makers rush to Intel when Arm licensees from Qualcomm to Nvidia to Texas Instruments are already competing for their business, and their software is already a proved fit with Arm designs?
Intel has a history of paying up for a foothold in a new business. The company invested $1.6bn in Clearwire in the hope of cultivating WiMax wireless technology, aimed at breaking up the iron grip of Qualcomm’s CDMA. Intel may be protecting Motorola and Lenovo from any downside on the new products. But as the failure of WiMax highlights, even Intel is not rich enough to buy its way in to an established market.