BANGALORE,INDIA: The 2011 Consumer Electronics Show is likely to be the first showcase for mobile phones powered by new Intel chips. Although the company has already show-cased a chip codenamed Moorestown, CTO Justin Rattner told Wired.com that the January show “would clearly be the window of opportunity for us”.

Intel’s absence from the smartphone market is in stark contrast to the company’s dominance of the desktop and laptop PC market. It is, however, establishing a position in the burgeoning tablet computer category. Rattner cited the number of tablet’s shown at Taiwan’s recent Computex event that were based on Intel chips.

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The Moorestown chip aims to offer increased power efficiency, while also offering sufficient processing power to run applications that demand intensive video capabilities. Battery life is now acknowledged to be a major issue for new smartphones, and increases in processor efficiency may help to address the problem.