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Qualcomm is launching a dual core version of its SnapDragon processor later this year aimed at smartphones, smartbooks and tablet PCs.
The 8672 is a 45nm 1.5GHz dual core device using an optimised ARM Cortex core.
"That will be sampling later this year," said Terry Yen, senior director of marketing. Qualcomm has over 40 designs coming to market this year with SnapDragon devices, including tablet PCs and smartphones running Windows Phone 7, launched this week in Barcelona.
"We have development platforms based on the tablet format that are going to developers right now," he said. SnapDragon was used for the HP tablet PC launched last week.
Tablets and smartbooks using Google's Chrome operating system will use a 45nm single core device, the 8650A, to be launched later this year, he says. The current test chips are running at 1.2GHz to 1.3GHz, he said.
However, it is not supporting virtualisation on the dual core devices, says Yen. "I don't see that as the next step," he said. We will be supporting many different operating systems but different ones for different customers."
See also: the Electronics Weekly blog UK Tech Startups, covering news on funding for electronics startups, written by Nick Flaherty