Smartphones await dual-core chips
Smartphones are on the verge of getting a major boost as chip makers ready dual-core chips that could accelerate performance for both applications and multimedia files.
Most of today's smartphones are capable of only 720p resolution high-definition video and come with processors touching speeds of about 1 GHz, but more and more users are demanding higher performance, analysts said. Next-generation dual-core processors could satisfy those demands by supporting full 1080p HD resolution for more demanding applications like videoconferencing. Phone makers have yet to formally announce plans for smartphones based on dual-core chips, but the next-generation processors are coming quickly.
Qualcomm Inc. has already shipped its first dual-core processor, the MSM8660, to manufacturers and plans to start testing samples of a faster dual-core chip, the QSD8672, later this year. Texas Instruments, meanwhile, is set to skip the dual-core OMAP4430 chip later this year. The chips could be running mobile devices by early next year.
