Intel: We are excited about ‘Skylake’ processors and Windows 10

Slow demand for personal computers in the first half of the year substantially affected Intel Corp.’s business results, but the company remains moderately optimistic and believes that launches of its future microprocessors code-named “Skylake” as well as Microsoft Corp.’s Windows 10 operating system will help its PC business.

Intel’s client computing group – which sells microprocessors, chipsets, mobile communication components as well as wireless and wired connectivity products for personal computers, tablets, smartphones and other personal devices – reported revenue of $7.4 billion, down 16 per cent sequentially and down 8 per cent year-over-year. The first half of the year is traditionally not good for sales of personal computers. Nevertheless, Intel noted fundamental challenges on the PC market and predicted a mid single-digit decline in the overall full year PC TAM [total available market].

Despite of challenges, Intel is still excited about the launch of its future processors and hopes that availability of Microsoft’s new operating system could improve PC sales.

“We are excited about the launch of our 14nm ‘Skylake’ microprocessor and the capability that this product family will enable on a variety of operating systems,” said Brian Krzanich, chief executive officer of Intel, during the quarterly conference call with investors and financial analysts. “In particular, we are enthusiastic about the release of Windows 10 this summer, especially when combined with Skylake.”

Traditionally, introduction of Windows operating systems helped to increase sales of personal computers. However, this did not really happen with Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8. Therefore, it is unclear how the release of Windows 10 affects global PC shipments.

Intel’s “Skylake” microprocessors are expected to significantly increase performance in multi-threaded applications thanks to micro-architectural enhancements. In addition, the new chips will feature faster integrated graphics cores compared to existing CPUs. Select “Skylake”-based mobile systems will feature wireless charging and wireless docking technologies.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It will be very interesting to see whether Windows 10 will catalyse many people to buy new PCs. Obviously, “Skylake”-based systems will be better than machines based on the company’s current-gen technology. But will they be considerably more successful?

Become a Patron!