Intel working on Android 4.1 port for Atom
updated 01:54 pm EDT, Wed July 25, 2012
No time frame yet, but upgrade said to come
Processor maker Intel has confirmed in a statement that it is working on porting Android 4.1 Jelly Bean to its Atom chips. The company hasn't revealed a timeframe for when the update will arrive. Intel devices are currently running Android 2.3.
Intel's statement said that the company is working closely with Google "to enable future versions of Android, including Jelly bean, on [its] family of low-power Atom processors." Those processors are Intel's attempt at carving out a space for itself in the tablet and smartphone sector, a sector currently dominated by rival ARM.
Intel has been working on developing versions of Android compatible with its chip configuration, and the company debuted an Android handset design earlier this year. The company argues that its single-core processors can run Android much more efficiently than current options on the market, as Intel believes that Android SoC vendors aren't doing enough to optimize their builds to run the operating system on multi-core processors.
