Intel's Medfield platform-based smartphones have recently received attention from handset players and telecom carriers such as Orange, Lenovo, Motorola Mobility, ZTE and India-based Lava International.
Lava International already launched its 4.03-inch Xolo X900, featuring Atom Z2460 processor (1.6GHz), 1GB memory, 16GB storage capacity, 8-megapixel camera and a battery that allows users to connect to the Internet through 3G for five hours and talk for eight hours. The smartphone is priced around US$400.
Lenovo, at the end of May, also started selling its Phone K800, targeting mainly the China market. The phone features 1GB of memory, 16GB of storage space and 4.5-inch panel priced at CNY3,299 (US$519).
Orange has also already started selling its San Diego smartphone with a price of around US$300. The smartphone features similar specifications as the Xolo X900 and is manufactured in Taiwan. Although the smartphone is considered cheap in Europe's retail channel, fierce competition in the mid-range and entry-level smartphone segment is causing the smartphone to only see limited shipments which has strongly worried Intel, the sources noted.
Smartphone vendors pointed out that as Intel will gradually upgrade its processors with 22nm and 14nm processes, performance and power consumption are expected to see obvious improvements in the future, but currently, Intel's smartphone platform is still unlikely to create a threat against ARM-based platforms.
ZTE is also set to launch an Android-based smartphone using Intel's Atom Z2000 processor in the second half of 2012 priced at CNY1,000.
Article translated by Joseph Tsai
