Samsung Electronics has chosen an Intel Corp processor to power a new version of one of its top-tier Android tablets, a source with knowledge of the plans told Reuters, in a major victory for the U.S. chipmaker, which is struggling to find its footing in the mobile market.

Under the agreement, Samsung Electronics will use Intel's Atom-branded processors in its Galaxy Tab3 tablets. The latest move is expected to pave the way for Intel to expand its presence in the rising mobile device market.

Intel has been improving the performance and energy efficiency of its "Atom" and "Core" processors and embracing Google Android, with the hope that it will convince more device makers to use its chips in their products.

Lee Hee-sung, country manager at Intel Korea, is ready to back the headquarters' drive for mobile processors as he hinted at launching a full-scale promotional campaign to push leading consumer electronics firms including LG Electronics to buy its Atom processors.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 is expected to be unveiled at the 2013 Computex conference during the first week of June in Taiwan.

Source: Reuters

A new smartphone code-named Redhookbay has appeared in benchmark listings. Powered by the 1.6GHz Intel Merrifield dual-core processor, the smartphone apparently runs using Android 4.2.1.

The benchmark listing also reveals the device features like 1280x720p HD display, and PowerVR SGX 544MP GPU.

Intel Redhookbay seems like a reference design so we might start to see the devices depending on it as early as Mobile World Congress 2013. A written report from Taiwanese publication Digitimes also shows that Intel is intending to showcase new Atom processor along with a new smartphone platform at MWC.

Intel, that is trying hard to make a stand it smartphone market, is yet to be at the core of the popular smartphone and a lot of the Intel-powered Android devices have seen average success at best. Even the top manufacturers like Samsung, Sony or HTC are yet to go for Intel processors in their devices as well as the chipmaker is left dealing with select companies like Motorola, ZTE and Lava for smartphones.

The main specifications are as follows:

• Intel made
• 1.6Ghz ~ 2.0Ghz processor (Atom presumably)
• PowerVR SGX544MP GPU
• 1280x720
• Android 4.2.1 JellyBean