Intel changes its accounting practices, will no longer report mobile group losses

Intel said that it will now combine the operating results of its PC and mobile device groups in its quarterly reports. The move mirrors an effort in sales to hit customers with a unified sales pitch, rather than subjecting them to multiple pitches from two divisions, the company said.

The results will certainly make things look better. Intel has been losing about $1 billion a quarter in its Mobile and Communications Group, while the PC Client Group is Intel’s cash cow, as Intel is still the world’s largest provider of chips for PCs.

Starting on April 14, Intel will offer results that combine the results of the PC Client Group and the Mobile and Communications Group into the Client Computing Group. Cara Walker, a spokesman for Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel, said in response to a question that the move was not aimed at obscuring the losses in mobile. Rather, she said the accounting change was done to mirror the corporate organizational move.

“We previously had two organizations selling solutions into organizations, and now that will be one,” Walker said.

Intel also said that it will provide commentary on the performance of the mobile and communications products. Back in November, Intel said it would improve mobile profitability by $800 million in 2015. Since the division was losing $1 billion a quarter, that improvement will not be enough to make Intel profitable in the mobile space.

Intel remains one of the most profitable companies on Earth. Intel’s reorganized groups will include the Client Computing Group (with chips for consumer PCs, laptops, smartphones, tablets, mobile communications components, wireless networking, and wired networking); the Data Center Group; Software and services; McAfee security software; and other revenues.

“The purpose of the change is to align financials with reporting structure that Intel changed a few months back,” said Patrick Moorhead, analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. “It will be harder to know what exactly is happening in mobile but Intel will still report details regarding progress against last year’s $4 billion mobile loss.”