Qualcomm not standing pat with current Snapdragon processor
Yesterday's huge announcement by Sprint pertaining to the all-new HTC EVO 4G superphone was met with real excitement by many, similar to what happened last year when the HTC HD2 first hit the scene, and it's easy to understand why. Qualcomm's Snapdragon processor is the brains behind both devices, plus the Nexus One, and with a blistering 1GHz open throttle, it's like nothing we've ever seen in the smartphone space.
Because of this, it's hard to imagine there ever being something faster, but since processor evolution is inevitable, Qualcomm has some new chips in the pipeline, including a dual-core version. According to Mark Frankel, vice president of product management at Qualcomm, the current QSD8650 used in the trio of HTC handsets will first be succeeded by the QSD8650a running at 1.3GHz, possibly by the end of this year.
Things will get very interesting once the dual-core variant, the QSD8672, is released early in 2011 with a clock speed of 1.5GHz, especially if Intel fails to get Moorestown on track. Not only will the new family of QSD processors make for a speedier smartphone, but MIDs running Android may also benefit, as well as the new smartbook category of devices that will run Google's upcoming Chrome OS.
[CNET | Qualcomm]
