Intel-Powered Tablets to Debut This Summer

Intel's Atom series of processors debuted in May of last year. We may see the latest generation -- code-named "Oak Trail" -- in tablets this summer. Photo courtesy Intel

Long absent from the mobile-device arena, Intel processors may arrive in tablets as soon as this summer.

Acer will launch a tablet powered by Intel’s “Oak Trail” processor, which could start selling as early as July, according to sources cited by DigiTimes. Asus and Lenovo will follow Acer’s lead shortly thereafter, say the sources.

While none of the hardware manufacturers that Wired.com contacted were willing to confirm any specific dates or deals, some were eager to drop hints of what was to come.

“While we cannot pre-announce our customers’ product plans,” Intel spokesperson Suzy Ramirez told Wired.com, “we are seeing success today with the Intel Atom processor Z670, formerly code-named ‘Oak Trail,’ in a variety of designs from leading OEMs.”

Ramirez said we’ll see a number of those designs debut next week at Computex, Taipei’s annual computer expo.

“We are certainly intrigued by the concept,” Asus spokesperson Gary Key told Wired.com, “and are fully supportive of Intel’s upcoming Oak Trail platform but at this time cannot confirm a tablet design based on Intel’s new architecture.”

Acer and Lenovo did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Intel’s presence has been conspicuously missing in the tablet and smartphone arena to date. Thus far, the rival ARM-licensed processor architecture has been the dominant force in the market.

“The big issue is power consumption,” Richard Fichera, an analyst at Forrester research told Wired.com. “ARM was designed from the get-go to be low-power consumption.”

Because mobile devices like smartphones are notorious for sucking down battery power faster than so-called “dumbphones,” ARM’s architecture has thus far been a good fit. Intel’s processors, while powerful, have not been as power-efficient as ARM’s.

The Oak Trail line is Intel’s step toward changing that power-efficiency gap. As one of Intel’s low-voltage Atom processors, the company claims its Oak Trail processors will improve mobile battery life “without sacrificing performance.”

Intel recently announced its first mass-produced 3-D transistor, which will be featured on another new line of chips, dubbed “Ivy Bridge.” The new transistors include a thin silicon fin jutting out from the top, differing from traditional planar transistors and allowing for more surface area to squeeze more transistors closer together.

Ivy Bridge chips will use less than half the power of Intel’s current 2-D transistors, while increasing performance by 37 percent. Although these chips won’t be readily mass-produced until the beginning of 2012, the drastic decrease in power consumption makes these chips look ready-made for mobile devices.

In the company’s annual shareholders meeting this month, CEO Paul Otellini commented on Intel’s forthcoming push into mobile, saying embedded devices are the “fastest growing sector” of Intel’s business. “The tablet race is nowhere near finished,” Otellini said.