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    Intel reports $12.9 billion revenue for Q1 2012, tells us to expect more hybrid tablets

    Intel reports $12.9 billion revenue for Q1 2012, tells us to expect more hybrid tablets

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    Intel reported Q1 2012 earnings today, and also revealed a strong interest in hybrid tablets.

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    Intel Cove Point stock press hybrid
    Intel Cove Point stock press hybrid

    Intel is steadily making billions of dollars in the silicon business: today, the 101,000-employee-strong chipmaker announced $12.9 billion in revenue and $2.7 billion in profit for the first quarter of 2012. Sure, that's not quite as much as the $13.9 billion it raked in last quarter and the $3.9 billion it took home, but it beat expectations by a tad, and revenue was higher (although profit lower) than the $12.8 billion / $2.7 billion that Intel reported this time last year.

    If you're truly interested in numbers, you'll find plenty more of them at our source links, but if you're here for insights from the investor call, there were a few: Intel CEO Paul Otellini surprised us by telling investors that the company's first smartphone is launching later this week, and he touched on tablets, too.

    Asked whether he thought customers would gravitate more towards tablets or ultrabooks over the long term, he said "I don't think anyone in the world knows the answer to that question," but later admitted that he personally thinks a combination of the two is best: "In my opinion, the long-term form factor is somewhere between these devices," he said, mentioning tablets with slide-out keyboards and laptops with touchscreens among the possibilities. "You'll see a number of these shipping in the second half of this year as the energeies of the OEMs and ODMs get unleashed," he said. Perhaps Intel's Cove Point prototype has a future yet.