Qualcomm tips quad-core Snapdragon plan

LONDON – Fabless mobile chip company Qualcomm Inc. has announced that its next processor architecture is called Krait and will offer multi-core chips capable of running at a clock frequency of 2.5-GHz. Dual and quad-core versions are expected to sample early in 2012.

Krait processors, which will still be called Snapdragons will be targeted at a 28-nm manufacturing process technology. However, Qualcomm did not state that the Krait Snapdragons would be based on its architectural license and backwards compatible with previous Snapdragon processors. It did say that it expected Krait to achieve 150 percent higher performance at 65 percent lower power consumption than currently available ARM-based CPU cores.
 
Krait Snapdragons are being designed in single-, dual- and quad-core versions and are set to include an Adreno GPU series with up to four 3D cores, and an integrated multi-mode LTE modem, Qualcomm said.

The single-core is the MSM8930, the dual-core is part numbered MSM8960 and the quad-core is the APQ8064.

All the chipsets in the family will integrate a quad-combo of wireless connectivity including WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth and FM as well as providing some support for near field communications (NFC) and stereoscopic 3-D (S3D) video and photo capture and playback.

The Adreno 320 quad-core GPU delivers similar graphics performance to today’s latest game consoles, but for mobile devices, Qualcomm said. In addition, the chipset family will support 3D and S3D games, capture and playback of S3D photos and videos, and output in full HD to a 1080p flat panel display over HDMI.

"Just as the original Snapdragon revolutionized smartphones with the first 1-GHz processor, these new generations of Snapdragon will revolutionize the next wave of mobile entertainment and computing," said Steve Mollenkopf, executive vice president and group president for Qualcomm.

Samples of the MSM8960 are anticipated to be available in Q2 2011 and samples of the MSM8930 and APQ8064 are anticipated to be available in early 2012.