Chinese company ZTE is planning to build its next smartphone using the latest Intel Atom Z2580 processor after striking what it calls a "strategic partnership" with the chip manufacturer.

ZTE already offers the ZTE Grand X In which runs on an Atom chipset but the new Z2580 (which was revealed by Intel at MWC) has a top clock speed of 2.0GHz. The chip was part of three new Atom processors shown off at MWC, collectively codenamed Clover Trail+.

The Atom processors are built on 32nm microarchitecture and feature Intel's hyperthreading technology. ZTE points out in its announcement that the aforementioned ZTE Grand X In was one of the best-selling smartphones in Austria last year. So clearly an indicator things are on the right track.

“Our work with ZTE has been instrumental as we work to expand our portfolio of mobile products and bring to market exciting new designs with Intel Inside," said Hendrick Unkel, director for marketing and business development at Intel.

"It’s great to work with ZTE on the new family of Intel Atom processors for smartphones and we’re confident that the combination of high performance, competitive battery life and overall value will be appreciated by consumers,” he said.

It's unlikely Intel's processors will be picked up by other manufacturers who generally favour Qualcomm's Snapdragon or ARM's Cortex series. But the comnpany has repeatedly stated its desire to get into the mobile space and this partership with ZTE is clearly a marker of things to come.

No hard dates or specifications were mentioned regarding the upcoming ZTE handset itself - but we'll keep a lookout and update you with the latest news.

Source: The Register