Intel has made its long expected move on the smartphone market, with the announcement of partnerships to produce devices with both Lenovo and Motorola Mobility. With this, Intel is trotting on mobile processor manufacturer ARM’s territory, since up to now chips using the British-based company’s designs dominated the market.

After its acquisition by Google last year, Motorola Mobility has entered into a multi-year, multi-device strategic relationship with Intel that includes smartphones using Intel Atom processors and the Android platform.The collaboration also covers tablets, although no release date for these have been announced.

Intel, strong on the PC processor front but lacking any foothold in the smartphone and tablet market, is also getting support from Chinese PC giant Lenovo. The world’s second largest computer manufacturer is set to launch the K800 smartphone in the second quarter of this year (China only), while Motorola’s Intel-powered devices are set to see the light of day in the second half of 2012.

The Lenovo smartphone will run the "Medfield" generation of Intel's low-power Atom processors, previously used in netbooks. The K800 will also use Android to do its processing, while boasting a 4.5” 720p screen, an eight megapixel camera, Intel’s Wireless Display (WiDi) technology and HSPA+.

 

 

“When great silicon and software technology meets great mobile and design innovation, amazing things can happen,” said Intel president and CEO 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.”