Intel Medfield chips to be used in Motorola smartphones

Intel has announced that its Medfield generation of mobile processor will be used by Motorola Mobility, the handset manufacturer recently acquired by Google.

The partnership was announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, covering a multi-year, multi-device strategic relationship between the two firms.

Intel's Atom processors will be used in Android smartphones shipped by Motorola later this year. The collaboration also covers tablets.

The Medfield chip is Intel's chief weapon in the battle to make a splash in the mobile processor sector dominated by designs from UK firm Arm Holdings.

LG previously announced a tie-up with Intel at CES in 2010, but the Atom-powered smartphones never actually went into production.

However, Intel's new deal with Motorola is viewed as significant because the firm is currently in the process of being acquired by Google in a $12.5bn (£7.7bn) deal.

Intel has also reached an agreement with Lenovo to use its chips, confirming that a Medfield-based phone from the firm will be released in China in July.

Motorola is expected to sell its first Intel-based handset in the second half of this year, with more devices to follow later in the year.

Intel's system-on-chip (SoC) design ensures Medfield chips are smaller than a fingertip and are specifically designs to deliver processing power while maximising battery life.

The company said that a prototype unit, produced in-house, delivered eight hours of 3G voice calls, five hours of 3G internet browsing and six hours of HD video decoding.

"When great silicon and software technology meets great mobile and design innovation, amazing things can happen," said Intel president and chief executive Paul Otellini.

"Our long-term relationship with Motorola Mobility will help accelerate Intel architecture into new mobile market segments.

"We expect the combination of our companies to break new ground and bring the very best of computing capabilities to smartphones and tablets, which in turn will help to create powerful new experiences that connect and enrich people's lives wherever they may be."

Motorola Mobility chairman and chief executive Sanjay Jha added: "We are delighted to be partnering with Intel to deliver smartphones and tablets based on Intel's Atom processor to consumers and businesses.

"Though there are five billion mobile subscribers in the world, less than 800 million are using a smartphone today. With Android as the leading smartphone OS globally and advancements in computing technology we see tremendous opportunity for the converged devices market."

Intel also said that it is developing a technology to help tackle "the 25% of apps" designed specifically to run on Arm-based mobile processors.

Also during Intel's keynote speech at CES, Otellini showed off the Clover Trail processor on a tablet running the new Windows 8 system operating system.

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