It would also require a different type of design flexibility. The mainstream Intel CPU line is relatively limited in variations. Yeah, we have different core

It would also require a different type of design flexibility. The mainstream Intel CPU line is relatively limited in variations. Yeah, we have different core counts and presence of SMT or iGPU, but you can get there with basically a single die design, or a small family of them, and blowing some fuses after binning. Mobile SoCs tended to be a lot more bespoke. The same basic CPU block might need to e paired with different modems, and physical space and production costs probably don't accommodate doing the "low-end by fusing off bits of big higher-end chips" model. As I understand it, Intel wasn't fond of that sort of product diversity-- the Atom they developed for mobile devices was much more a take-it-or-leave-it proposition. I also suspect the concept of being an external single source was unappetizing for buyers. Samsung has the choice of buying Snapdragons or making their own Exynos parts; low end manufacturers can cross-shop MediaTek or Allwinner. If you're too reliant on a uniquely Intel design, what happens if they have a production kink and you have a million phones awaiting processors?