The chipset inside your smartphone is very important, they are usually what’s responsible for the camera quality, video quality, speed, and graphics. When it comes to Samsung devices Qualcomm and Samsung’s Exynos chips are what you will usually find inside. Though reports out of Korea suggest Samsung may be working on a device that has an Intel chip inside.
During Mobile World Congress 2014 Intel announced two 64-bit Atom processors. The first was codenamed “Merrifield” and came with two 2.13Ghz cores and introduced a new capability called Integrated Sensor Solution (ISS). The goal of ISS is to manage sensor data and keep a device working efficiently even when the battery is low. The second processor was codenamed “Moorefield” and comes with 2.3Ghz and four cores. The Moorefield processor supports enhanced GPU and is capable of faster memory. These were and are exciting moves from Intel which has been dominated in the mobile industry by Qualcomm. However, reports from Ddaily- a Korean news site- suggest that Samsung may be lending a hand to Intel.
Samsung may be working on a device that has Intel inside-more specifically the Moorefield chipset. Which would be the first smartphone to use the Morrefiled chipset but not the first device. Initially, it was thought that these chips would be used in smaller tablets. Though this may be seen as Samsung helping bring more attention to the Intel mobile chipset, it might have come at a cost. On average, mobile chipsets come at a price of $20 for a premium applications processor. However, Ddaily suggests that Intel may be parting with their chipsets for only $7/each. That would mean Samsung will be paying just over cost for the units and Intel wouldn’t be making much. This idea indicates that it is more of a strategic move for Intel, trying to get recognition from people that they can compete with Qualcomm. Which would be a difficult feat for them to accomplish even with Samsung’s help.
If Samsung is going to be using Intel’s Moorefield chipsets in a new device, they will be watering it down a bit. The full power of the Moorefield chipset is 2.3Ghz, but Samsung may be slowing it down to just over 1.7Ghz. The reason for this would be to prevent any overheating issues, and control power consumption better. Both of which are very important to Samsung but this is a point to the device not being a high-end device.
There has been no word on when the device will be announced-if at all. There’s also been no word that tells us what we will be seeing in specs other than it being an Android device. What do you think? Have you been waiting for a more mainstream Intel powered device, or has Qualcomm and Exynos been working just fine for you?