Intel Partners with Indian Handset Maker Lava to Deliver Atom-Based Smartphone

After breaking new grounds in the smartphone business with France Telecom, Motorola (News - Alert) Mobility and Lenovo, Intel announced new design wins for its processors in the smartphone handsets arena. This week at the Mobile World Congress, the global chip giant revealed plans to develop smartphones in partnership with Indian handset maker Lava International and Chinese equipment maker ZTE (News - Alert). According to a report posted on NDTV’s Gadgets site, Intel is now strengthening its presence in the mobile telephony space.

As per the Gadgets report, the Intel (News - Alert) and Lava designed smartphone is expected to go on retail shelves in India in the second quarter. It will support all major 2G and 3G networks, wrote Gadgets. Lava’s co-founder and director Vishal Sehgal told Gadgets that "We are proud to partner with Intel on XOLO to bring a superior smartphone computing experience to customers in India.”

The Gadgets report shows that XOLO X900 will be powered by 1.6 GHz Atom processor and offer a 4.03-inch high-resolution LCD touch screen. In addition to delivering web browsing and multitasking, the Intel-based smartphone would also feature two cameras for advanced imaging and video capabilities. This will be India's first smartphone with an Intel processor inside.

In a statement, Intel president and CEO Paul Otellini (News - Alert), said, "We are very pleased to add new, important customers and capabilities to our phone offerings. We remain focused on delivering exciting new features and outstanding performance to smartphone customers around the world."

At the mobile conference, Intel also announced a multi-year mobile device collaboration across smartphones and tablets with global handset maker ZTE, wrote Gadgets. According to the Gadgets report, the first Intel-powered mobile device from ZTE is expected to be released in the second half of 2012.

Concurrently, as per the report, Intel also unwrapped new Atom chips to extend its reach to a broad range of mobile devices. The global chip giant unveiled faster Intel Atom processor Z2460 with speeds up to 2 GHz, wrote Gadgets.