Qualcomm updates Snapdragon CPU line-up

Chipmaker Qualcomm has revealed details of a new range of processors, including a 1.2GHz Snapdragon aimed at smartphones and tablets.

The dual- and single-core chips provide an overall increase in processing power for a range of mobile devices, such as the recently introduced HP TouchPad, the company said in a statement on Thursday.

Qualcomm has revealed a new range of processors that will be used to power, amongst others, the HP TouchPad tablet. Photo credit: HP

"Our work with industry leaders has allowed us to showcase the full spectrum of Snapdragon's graphics and multimedia capabilities in both the tablet and smartphone space across major software platforms," said Raj Talluri, Qualcomm's vice president of product management, in the statement.

Many phones, including the new HP Veer and Kyocero Echo, use Snapdragon processors. The range of chips has appeared in more than 75 devices, and there are another 150 in the works, according to Talluri.

Qualcomm said that the third-generation 8x60 family — such as the dual-core APQ8060 used in the HP TouchPad — will support viewing of stereoscopic 3D (S3D) videos or still images, 1080P HD video capture and playback, "console-quality" gaming and Flash-equipped web browsing. The third-generation Snapdragon family is expected to ship with an integrated Adreno 220 GPU.

Battery life

As well as boosting overall performance, such dual-core chips can increase the battery life of mobile devices, according to James Bruce, lead mobile strategist at ARM, whose chip designs underpin many of Qualcomm's processors.

"It may seem counter-intuitive, but it actually improves battery life, because what you can do is run two cores at a lower clock speed, which is more efficient than running one core at a higher clock speed," Bruce told ZDNet UK recently.

However, Bruce added that the capacity of dual-core chips means that few mobile manufacturers are likely to make the shift towards using quad-core processors in smartphones and tablets in the near future.

"You will see some quad-core smartphones, but I think what you're going to see more of is a transition from dual-core Cortex A9 handsets, which are really going to be rolled out over the next couple of years," he said. "Then as we go into holiday season 2012, you'll see dual-core Cortex A15 handsets being rolled out, which will deliver even higher performance.

"As people move to the smaller geometries, they will also increase the clock speed, which will give some headroom as well," he added.

Alongside the dual-core announcement, Qualcomm launched a family of single-core CPUs, which support the capture and display of stereoscopic 3D pictures and movies without needing glasses, depending on the display. One of these will incorporate the Snapdragon MSM8255 processor and Adreno 205 GPU.

On Monday, Qualcomm competitor Texas Instruments announced the launch of its OMAP 5 platform — based on two ARM Cortex A15 cores — which also has an integrated GPU that supports stereoscopic 3D videos and images.