Intel powered Lava Xolo X900 smartphone on sale from Monday

BANGALORE, INDIA: Indian handset maker Lava has become the first handset vendor to release the first-ever smartphone to be powered by Intel-designed microprocessors.

Lava will be releasing the Intel's handset Xolo X900 in India on Monday. The release also marks Intel's maiden entry into the mobile phone chip business dominated by ARM, a UK based firm.

The Xolo X900 will cost Rs22,000 ($423) and available for sale through Lava websits and through Croma stores in India.

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Intel, the world's biggest chipmaker, is launching its third generation of Core microprocessors that it intends will defend its PC territory from mobile competitors.

According to a Financial Times report, Intel will also on Monday launch a new family of Core microprocessors, called Ivy Bridge, which shrink circuit widths from 32 to 22 billionths of a metre (nanometres), offering better performance.

Ivy Bridge's advances could help Intel fight off competition from Arm-based mobile-phone chipmakers who can see a route into the PC market through Microsoft releasing its Windows 8 software this year -- the first Arm-compatible version of its operating system, the report said.

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