Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is desperately trying to get a major breakthrough in the smartphone market, and this may become a reality with the latest announcement from the company at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) has made some big announcements in Mobile World Congress. The biggest was the Clover Trail+ platform, which consists of three new Atom processors, the 2.0GHz Z2580, 1.6GHz Z2560 and 1.2GHz Z2520.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) currently has two mobile platforms: Medfield for Android smartphones and the Clover Trail platform, used in Windows 8 tablets from Acer Incorporated (TPE:2353), ASUSTEK Computer Inc. (TPE:2357), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL), Fujitsu Limited (ADR) (PINK:FJTSY), Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ), Lenovo Group Limited (ADR) (PINK:LNVGY), LG Electronics Inc. (KRX:066570) and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930).
Clover Trail+ can be called an improved version of Medfield platform. As per the chip maker, the new processor will boost the performance of computers by twofold, and will give the 3 times the graphic performance of the Atom Z2640. Clover Trail is designed for Android phones. The first Smartphone to have this processor will be Lenovo K900.
The phone will be available in China from the second quarter, then in Russia, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines. The phone, however, does not support 4G LTE and thus has negligible possibility of being sold in US. The Clover Trail+ will be probably the most used in other devices such as Android tablets. Companies like Asus and ZTEST Electronics Inc. (CVE:ZTE) will launch devices running on this processor.
Clover Trail+ is manufactured on the similar 32nm process as Medfield and Clover Trail. But the follow-up, the 22nm Merrifield platform for smartphones, will be available towards the end of this year.
In the tablet category, Intel is set to ship its first quad-core platform, Bay Trail, during the holiday time. The Company revealed, during Mobile World Congress, that it is working with various original device manufacturers (Compal, ECS, Pegatron, Quanta and Wistron) in order to facilitate their customers to get Android and Windows based tablets to market quickly.
In other news, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is looking to invest $152 million in Brazil in the span of five years in research and development. The company will do this in partnership with the Brazilian Government. The investment will be directed towards increasing head count and resources internally, and will be awarded to seven Brazilian universities for research purposes, said the president of Intel Brazil, Fernando Martins. Mr. Martin revealed that the Brazilian government is expected to match Intel’s investment. Brazil is Intel’s third-largest market.