Microsoft is expected to unveil a Windows 8 tablet next week at a conference in California. The tablet is reportedly made by Samsung and runs on an Intel chip. The BUILD conference will begin on Tuesday where it is expected that the chief executive officer of Windows, Steven Sinofsky, will unveil the early version of a Windows 8 tablet.
“This new product manufactured by Samsung will be the company’s first collaboration with Microsoft in its hardware devices,” a Korean news website, which first broke the news, quoted a source as saying.
The inclusion of an Intel chip comes as a surprise since Windows 8 tablets were expected to run on ARM processors to be supplied by Nvidia, Qualcomm or Texas Instruments.
ARM processors are known to use power more efficiently compared to processors manufactured by Intel, that’s why they’re so popular for smartphones and tablets.
Analysts say the Windows 8 tablet from Samsung is mostly a protection for the company in case something goes wrong on the Android front, as Samsung is battling several lawsuits due to its association with Android. At any rate, Samsung has a history of supporting a large number of operating systems, though in the tablet segment it has only built Android products so far. Samsung also seems to be targeting users who are comfortable with the Windows ecosystem and would like to stay within it even while using a tablet.
At the BUILD conference, Microsoft intends to convince users that if they adopt Windows 8 they will have the power of traditional personal computers in their tablet — it’ll be the best of both worlds. Windows 8 is expected to have a Live Tile interface and it will be similar to Windows Phone 7’s user interface.