You might have a smartphone with an Intel processor soon

Intel has announced a partnership with ARM to create chipsets for mobile devices, meaning your next mobile phone might have an Intel chip.

Recently, Intel has announced a “multigeneration agreement” with ARM to create mobile SoCs (systems on chips) with genuine Intel tech inside them. Put simply, this means Intel is getting into the mobile phone processor business with one of the biggest names in that space, ARM.

As you might already know, Intel is a huge name in the world of computer processors, alongside its longtime rival AMD, but the mobile chip market is dominated by the likes of Apple, Qualcomm, and Samsung, not Intel and AMD. However, it’s important to note this agreement relates to fabrication, meaning that you won’t be seeing an Intel i9 in your next phone. However, going forward, now those companies mentioned above will have the option of working with Intel as opposed to a company like TSMC to manufacture and produce chips.

If that sounds a little less sexy than it sounded originally, hold your horses. A company like TSMC doesn’t have a ton of competition, so a heavyweight like Intel entering the market is likely to push other companies to try new things and, perhaps, even innovate in places they hadn’t had the incentive to innovate in before. Of course, this is all speculation, but it’s certainly worth keeping an eye on the world of microchips after this news.

While this news may not mean huge changes to smartphones in general, in the next couple of years it’s entirely possible your phone will be running off a chip made by Intel, just like your computer. Plus, Intel has plans to further expand its fabrication business beyond mobile devices, too, so you may well eventually have Intel tech powering any number of your things from gadgets to cars and more.