Intel To End Use Of “Atom” Branding

Intel is planning to end the use of the Atom branding according to a Digitimes report. The reason is that it is believed to be associated with “cheap” and “low quality” products, thus the Intel Atom branding of Clover Trail is apparently in part responsible for the poor sales of Intel Clover Trail smartphone processors.

“Intel believes that sales of Atom-based smartphones and tablets have been impacted partly by the CPU brand’s negative image, the sources said. Therefore it hopes a name change can revive demand.” said Digitimes.

In most cases Intel will transfer new Atom-based  products to more reputable brand names like the Celeron on Pentium brandings. Atom CPU branding will gradually be phased out on entry level Intel platforms and in Intel mobile platforms, though we are not sure if old products will be rebranded.

Furthermore, we are not sure if old Clover Trail or new Bay Trail mobile SoCs will be renamed, as Intel’s smartphone processors are the main driving force behind ending the Atom branding. There is currently no information yet on whether Intel will develop anything “new” to replace Atom in the mobile space. They might just simply switch mobile SoCs over to the existing branding structures so we could see “Core i7” branded smartphones.

Stay tuned for more information on this story as we get it.

Image courtesy of Intel