Intel: 'iPhone can't handle the internet'

NEWS

Any speed shortcomings in Apple's iPhone were the fault of its rival chipset manufacturer ARM, a senior Intel executive said in Taiwan yesterday.

"The shortcomings of the iPhone are not because of Apple," Intel's director of ecosystems for its ultra-mobility group Pankaj Kedia said at the Intel Developer Forum in Taipei, Taiwan. "The shortcomings of the iPhone have come from ARM."

The comment followed statements from Shane Wall, Intel's VP, mobility group and director strategic planning, on the device's lack of oomph. "Any sort of application that requires any horse power at all and the iPhone struggles," he said.

He said that although Apple did try to tackle the internet and achieved a massive buzz due to, according to Wall, great user interface and Apple chief Steve Job's ability to sell, the hyped device fell short in a number of areas.

Intel's Kedia didn't just stop at the iPhone, claiming ARM was a malaise afflicting smart phones in general. "The smart phone of today is not very smart," he said. "The problem they have today is they use ARM."

The discussion came after Wall's keynote. "If you want to run full internet, you're going to have to run an Intel-based architecture," he said, claiming Intel processors achieved two to three times the performance of ARM equivalents.

Wall believed the situation was unlikely to change anytime soon, saying Intel was two years ahead of the rival company. He didn't believe fast, full internet would receive a debut with ARM-based devices in the near future. "Even if they do have full capability, the performance will be so poor," he said.

Kedia agreed. "I know what their roadmap is, I know where they're going and I'm not worried."