Report: new 3G iPhone due in early '08 will have "assisted GPS chips"

Scott Moritz of financial news site TheStreet.com reports that a second-generation, 3G iPhone will be released early next year.

Their sources report that the upgraded phone will offer GPS from as yet-unspecified navigation services.

The new 3G iPhone is expected to include features like global positioning for navigation services.

This functionality, apparently, will be actualized via chips from Broadcom, optimized to work with capabilities already offered by a new (July of this year) Broadcom acquisition called Global Locate. Global Locate manufactures "assisted GPS chips" that use both satellite and cell antenna signals to pinpoint locations. Now part of Broadcom's portfolio, Global Locate's solution set is said to make the long-elusive dream of GPS indoor functionality a high-performance reality. The assisted GPS chips also are said to boost GPS fuctionality at points on the globe where a direct satellite read isn't possible.

TheStreet also reports that chipmaker TriQuint will also be part of the next generation of iPhones. TriQuint's specialty of interest to Apple: power amplifiers for the iPhone.