Most of the smartphones or small portable internet devices are still powered by ARM core. Despite the recent launch of the Intel low power Atom processor, both Intel’s competitors, ARM and TI (Texas Instruments) are still confident enough to monopolize in PDA or smartphone segments. Not only that, both have stated that they are ready move a step further to conquer Mini PC market such as Asus Eee PC which was previously occupied only by X86 architecture processors.

Seems that while Intel is moving down to smartphone market where ARM core is still dominant, TI is trying to ramp up its market share in mini laptop market with the introduction of OMAP 3. No doubt, each of them has their own advantages and disadvantages. ARM based OMAP 3 is very power efficient, even much lower power as compared to current lowest power X86 based Intel Atom processor. In terms of OS (Operating systems) support, typically ARM based processor will run with Linux OS or some light OSs like Symbian or Windows Mobiles but it can’t enjoy the flexibility of getting those fancy Windows XP or even Vista running on them.

There is no clear cut of which core processor is winning as it is pretty much depends on what market segments they are targeting at. Nevertheless, if ARM can expand its software scalability with rich ecopartners support and have sufficient CPU headroom to run what is needed on mobile platform, it will definitely pose a huge threat to Intel’s Atom or even VIA’s Isaiah processors in terms of lower TDP and pricing requirement.