14 DAY TRIAL // Intel has made public its plans regarding tablets several times, as the chip maker hopes to be able to sell 40 million tablet processors throughout 2014.
It’s a big goal, but the company is trying to do everything it can to make this happen. And now Reuters reports major tablet brands are gearing up to roll out Intel-based slates in June, in a move which Chipzilla hopes will get it closer towards achieving its goals.
Intel is lagging in Qualcomm’s wake when it comes to mobile device shippings, but the company has offered advantageous partnerships for device makers, even at the cost of coming out at a loss. Intel hopes that in the future, it will manage to keep its customers closer and they will continue to buy chips without the added discounts.
This week Toshiba has rolled out six new tablets and convertible models all running on the Intel platform, one of which runs on the Android OS, while the others make use of the Windows platform.
But you can expect more Intel-based tablets offered by brand vendors to start making an appearance starting this month, said Intel’s Mobile Client Platforms General Manager, Erik Reid.
With the PC industry losing its mojo more and more, Intel has been forced to turn its eyes on the mobile industry. However, most high-end tablet computers are manufactured using Samsung and Qualcomm’s chips, while the budget ones take advantage of low-power tech from ARM and others.
Just a few days ago it was revealed that Intel has partnered up with Chinese low-cost chip manufacturer Rockchip in order to produce the next-gen SoFIA chips, an architecture that will be implemented in budget Android tablets.
Intel is thus trying to grab a piece of the budget Asian-tablet market and is relying on Rockchip’s good name in order to do so.
Earlier this month, the company’s CEO Brain Krzanich claimed Intel was on its way to reaching the goal of 40 million tablets sold.
Chipzilla managed to ship off 5 million tablet chips in the first quarter and the company hopes to be able to sell 7.5 million such chips in the June quarter.
Compared to last year, Intel is looking to bump the numbers significantly, considering the chip-manufacturer only managed to sell 10 million tablet chips.
Anyway, the global tablet chip market seems to be slowing down and IDC reports lowering its previous 261 million forecast for 2014 to just 245 million.