Intel-powered smartphones coming this year

Intel CEO Paul Otellini said during a keynote at Mobile World Congress that a number of smartphone models would be launched this year using the firm's processors. The company seems very optimistic about its upcoming smartphone core, dubbed Medfield, but so far remains tight-lipped on possible partners or any further information besides saying that it is a "pretty exciting" time for them. 

Otellini sees the emergence of the smartphone and tablet device categories as an opportunity for Intel and not a challenge to its commanding lead in the CPU market. According to the CEO, tablets and smartphones will live alongside PCs, and this will allow them to ship even more processors than the hundreds of millions it currently ships. "We don't see an environment where one machines satisfies all needs. At least for the next four to five years, we're likely to see multiple devices and multiple form factors simply because people want to do multiple things," he said. 

Intel has been virtually absent from the fast growing smartphone market so far, but the company is hoping to change that with its upcoming Medfield chips, which are supposedly posed to outclass ARM in processing and power efficiency. The company will have to prove its bold claims with actual products, and with ARM currently holding close to 90% of the mobile market through licensing agreements, convincing hardware manufacturers to embrace Medfield won't be easy.