Since the heyday of the UMPC, Intel has dominated the mobile PC market, from the Intel Celeron M in the Samsung Q1 to the current Atom processor which is present in nearly every netbook on the market. According to market research company ABI, those days of Intel dominance may be slowly coming to an end as mobile PC manufacturers turn to ARM-based solutions for this emerging category of devices. In contrast to the x86-based architecture, ARM-based systems offer low power consumption, improved battery life, compatibility with a variety of mobile platforms, have a lower price tag and offer an always on, always connected experience. As its raw processing power and popularity increases, the ARM-based system on a chip is also expanding beyond its smartphone roots and is being used to power tablets, netbooks and the like. A combination of these above factors is expected to slowly propel ARM to dominance by 2013 with ARM’s SoCs garnering a 25% market share in 2010, increasing yearly until the pendulum shifts in 2013 and it grabs a dominant 60% market share by 2014. Faster, cheaper, longer lasting mobile devices? We say bring it on.
