Qualcomm ups the smartphone ante with 1.2GHz Snapdragon

by Stevie Smith - Jun 1 2010, 15:40

With its existing 1GHz Snapdragon technology already enjoying pride of place in high-profile portable devices ranging from Dell’s Streak tablet computer through to Google’s Nexus One smartphone, California-based chipmaker Qualcomm is now looking to boost mobile performance and stave off rival platforms.

More pointedly, Qualcomm has officially begun shipping its third-generation Snapdragon processors – the snappily titled ‘Mobile Station Modem’ MSM8260 and MSM8660 – which will arrive with hardware partners sporting dual-core chipsets pushing up to 1.2GHz of tweaked muscle.

Aimed primarily at the advanced smartphone market, other contributing elements packed into both of Qualcomm’s latest offerings include, 1080p video encoding/decoding, OpenGL ES 2.0 and OpenVG 1.1, 3D/2D hardware acceleration engines, integrated GPS, a dedicated low-power audio engine, and support for 24-bit WXGA displays (1280 x 800).

“Qualcomm’s first-generation Snapdragon chipsets set a new standard for advanced smartphones and smartbook devices, and our second-generation solutions are already shipping in volume,” enthused Steve Mollenkopf, president of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies.

“We are very excited by the innovation our customers are already showing as they begin designing products based on our dual-core MSM8260 and MSM8660 chipsets,” he added.

Points of differentiation see the MSM8260 running on HSPA+ while the MSM8660 offers more rounded “multi-mode” connectivity via HSPA+/CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Rev. B.

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