The CPU is basically the heart or literal core of every smart phone. While other devices thrive on mid range processors that only have to provide power that is optimal for the performance of the device, the same is not to be said about smart phone technology. Much like computers, having a great set of hardware specs from the get go is important for mobile phones. And unlike desktop personal computers that can have parts replaced and updated, the same cannot be said for closed devices such as mobile phones.
In the recently held Qualcomm 2010 Innovation Convention, the chip manufacturing giant confirmed that 2011 will see the next big benchmark in CPU technology, the 1.5 GHz chipset.
At the moment, the current industry standard for the typical high end smart entails having the Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU. This processor is clocked at the speed of 1GHz –which is actually the fastest available mobile phone CPU at the moment. It has been reported that as the end of the year draws closer, faster processors running at 1.2GHz are expected to come out packed in the latest Windows phone 7 devices.
Currently, several upcoming phones such as the HTC HD3, the new Sony Ericsson WP7 handset, and LG’s new phones are predicted to be using new CPU technology (though LG’s CPUs are the NVIDIA based, dual core Tegra).
With 4G technologies slowly becoming established as the new network of choice and the faster 1.5 GHz CPUs about to arrive, it seems that 2011 is quickly building up what might become one of the biggest turning points in the history of mobile handsets.
Of course, the introduction of a new processor is only the first step. With a 1.5 GHz CPU ready and waiting, Qualcomm could also start focusing on creating a dual core version of the CPU. The only thing that is needed now is for manufacturers to improve the life and usability of mobile phone batteries.
Posts Tagged ‘qualcomm’
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There is no doubt that Qualcomm makes awesome hardware. Their old MSM line of processors are present in many major 3G and 2G devices that have been released in the past year. In the meanwhile, their 1 GHz Snapdragon processor has become the processor to have in a mobile phone. The upcoming Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 and a still unnamed Snapdragon device from LG are in the works -both are also coincidentally Android smart phones; a lot of people are eagerly anticipating these phones to arrive.
Qualcomm is also the preferred processor for HTC. These days, the Qualcomm brand gets called a lot when checking mobile phone specifications as you would usually find their process on most high end mobile phones.
Qualcomm does more than produce processors; as a developer and researcher of technological innovations, Qualcomm holds several patents for key mobile phone features. CDMA, which is basically a technology for making a single bandwidth signal hold several streams of data, is a very useful technology that will maximize data transfer speeds. Recently, Samsung has recently acquired rights to the Qualcomm patent on CDMA for 1.6 billion US Dollars. Samsung will also pay Qualcomm royalties for the next 15 years.
Texas Instruments, another hardware developer; is well known for their Arm Cortex processors. While Qualcomm and Texas Instruments have never been direct competitors, they share the same market in the mobile phone industry. With Samsung already signed up with Qualcomm for the next decade and a half, it is likely that they would also be exclusively using Qualcomm processors.
This is good news, as Qualcomm’s hardware far surpasses that of TI’s. The great thing about technology is that in order to progress, there is no need for competition. Unlike other economies that require competition in order to improve services, innovate products and ultimately, lower prices; technological advancements rely more on a predictable evolutionary direction in which the most useful survives.