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Intel's Atom chips will support Android 4.1, no timeline given

Intel's Atom chips will support Android 4.1, no timeline given

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Intel has said that it will be working to enable Android 4.1 Jelly Bean on its Atom-based processors.

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Jelly Bean stock
Jelly Bean stock

Intel has confirmed that its Atom chips for phones and tablets will eventually support Android 4.1 Jelly Bean as a port. In an email to IDG News, a spokeswoman said that "Intel continues to work closely with Google to enable future versions of Android, including Jelly Bean, on our family of low power Atom processors." Intel's smartphone and tablet presence is minimal, but the first phones bearing its Medfield system-on-chip Atom processors launched this year, and more are expected in the coming quarters. Unfortunately, they're largely still running Android 2.3 Gingerbread — with the exception of a few on Ice Cream Sandwich, despite Andy Rubin's promise that Google would optimize future versions of Android for Intel's chips.

Intel has focused on Windows 8 for its Atom-based Clover Trail processor, and we're glad to see it at least trying to keep up with the latest version of Android. But while Intel has a long-term phone development partnership with Motorola, we aren't seeing much of Google's plan to optimize for Atom in the future.

Article now reflects Google's promise for Intel and Android.