Qualcomm unveils dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon chip

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Mobile chip maker Qualcomm has started shipping its first ever dual-core Snapdragon processors to smartphone manufacturers, the company announced at the Computex show in Taiwan today.

The third-generation of the ARM-based Snapdragon has two Scorpion application processor cores running at up to 1.2GHz, and features integrated GPS, a GPU with on-board 2D/3D acceleration for Open GL 2.0 and Open VG 1.1, full HD video encoding and decoding, a dedicated low-power audio engine and support for 24-bit 1280 x 800-pixel WXGA displays.

Two variants of the chipset will be available – the MSM8260, which supports HSPA+, and the MSM8660, which has dual-mode HSPA+ and 1xEV-DO Rev B support.

In targeting high-end smartphones and other mobile form factors, the Qualcomm chips will be going up against rival platforms from Broadcom, Intel, Nvidia, Marvell and Texas Instruments in a rapidly expanding – and highly lucrative – market segment.

The original 1GHz Snapdragon has proved highly popular since first appearing in Toshiba's TG01 smartphone last year. According to Qualcomm, Snapdragon chipsets are currently found in more than 140 devices, including the Google Nexus One, HTC Desire and Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 smartphones and the soon to be released in the UK Dell Streak 5 Android tablet.

Qualcomm's higher-spec 1.3GHz single core variation launched at the start of the year is classed as the second-generation Snapdragon, with today's announcement being the third. Qualcomm says it's also working on a more powerful version of the dual-core chip to be called the QSD8672, which will see each of the two cores clocking speeds of up to 1.5GHz when it appears later this year.

Qualcomm is currently shipping engineering samples of the new chipsets to smartphone makers. It typically takes around half a year from that point for the first end products to appear. That means high-powered smartphones with the latest Snapdragon silicon should start appearing just in time for Christmas.

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