Report: Samsung To Make An Intel-Based Galaxy Tab 10.1

Intel is apparently making gains in the tablet market.

Reuters reported Friday that Samsung has selected Intel's new Atom Clover Trail+ processor to power a version of its forthcoming Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 Android tablet. The report, citing a source with knowledge of Samsung's plan, also claimed that Samsung will debut new ATIV-brand Windows 8 tablets running Intel chips at an event scheduled for June 20.

Samsung's Galaxy Tab family currently runs on ARM-based processors by Nvidia, Texas Instruments and Sony's own Exynos brand, depending on the models. But, the addition of an Intel-based device to the Galaxy Tab family, which is currently the best-selling Android tablet series, would be a huge design win for Intel.

[Related: Samsung Takes Aim At iPad Mini With Galaxy Tab 3 ]

Samsung uses a variety of Intel chips for its notebooks and convertible laptops, including current ATIV models for Windows 8, but the addition of an Intel-based Android tablet would be a first for the South Korean technology giant.

Intel first introduced the Clover Trail+ Atom family at Mobile World Congress 2013 in February; the new dual-core 32nm design was billed as the centerpiece of Intel's aggressive effort to gain momentum and market share in the tablet and smartphone markets, where the company has been dominated by ARM.

And shortly after taking over for Paul Otellini, new Intel CEO Brian Krzanich quickly formed a new business unit focused on emerging products in the mobile market.

Joe Lore, sales director at Sunnytech in Woburn, Mass., believes the addition of the new Atom chip to Samsung Galaxy Tab series will give Intel a boost but believes Intel still has a long way to go. While Sunnytech has seen decent sales on Lenovo's Windows 8 tablets running Intel Atom chips like the Lynx K3011 and ThinkPad Tablet 2, Lore questioned whether Atom chips can deliver enough performance for commercial market customers.

"For business use, I'm not sure current Atom chips can keep up with customer needs," Lore said. "I think the new Atom chip can probably do better than some of the tablets processors out there now, but the question is will it be good enough for business processes?"

PUBLISH MAY 31, 2013