Intel’s mobile business has been a famously disastrous affair, with the company that dominates the computer chip market failing to make an impact in the tablet and mobile space. It’s hoping that’ll soon change with its next generation of chips and partnerships with Lenovo and Acer.
The next generation of mobile processor from Intel will be called Clover Trail, and it’s set to land in the third quarter of this year on tablets sporting Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system.
The chip is designed to be a tier above the Intel Medfield chipset, which will power tablets in the middle market. Clover Trail will be a powerful beast made to handle intensive enterprise use in Windows 8 tablets.
This power may come at a cost, though: first there’s the suggestion that – as has been the problem with mobile Intel processors – Clover Trail may be a bit of a battery hog. But a bigger problem could be Intel shooting itself in the foot; if consumers and businesses know that Clover Trail devices are due to land, they’re likely to avoid Medfield devices altogether.
We hope for Intel’s sake that it finally manages to get its act together in a market space it has every right to dominate, but it’s been rocky enough so far to suggest that this could be another false start.
