In a "strategic collaboration" announced by ZTE on Tuesday, the Chinese handset-maker revealed that it will be working with chip giant Intel for developing smartphones powered by the Intel Atom Z2580 processor which was unveiled at the recently-concluded 2013 Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, Spain.

The Atom Z2580 processor is a dual-core processor which has been built using a 32-nanometer process and boasts Intel Hyper-Threading Technology for providing two-fold more computing performance, and up to 3x graphics capabilities, as compared to the previous generation Intel Atom Z2460 processor; though with the same competitive battery life.

The Atom Z2580 is of Intel's three new processors - the other two being Z2560 and Z2520 - aimed at the mobile market. These new processors, which went by the codename `Clover Trail+' before launch, will succeed the chip maker's `Medfield' mobile platform.

While the partnership with ZTE is a noteworthy one for Intel which is making efforts to gain market share in the mobile processor market, ZTE's Atom Z2580-based smartphone will not be the first Atom-powered handset to be manufactured by the company's mobile devices unit. ZTE already offers the ZTE Grand X In, which is based on the single-core, 1.6GHz member of Intel's Medfield series.

Meanwhile, about its collaboration with Intel for developing Atom Z2580-based smartphones, ZTE said that the move was "an important part of ZTE's strategy for product development, both in terms of time-to-market and in providing customers' with a great handset experience."