Qualcomm Adds Two New Snapdragon S4 Mobile Processors to Power Smartphones

By Meenakshi Shankar

TMCnet Contributor

 

Qualcomm (News - Alert) Incorporated (QCOM), the company specializing in 3G and next-generation mobile technologies, has announced the addition of two new Snapdragon S4 mobile processors - the MSM8225Q and MSM8625Q.

Snapdragon's family of mobile processors is redefining mobility for consumers around the world by offering an optimal combination of mobile processing performance, powerful multimedia, wireless connectivity and power efficiency, enabling a new generation of advanced smartphones, tablets and other smart devices.

The new Snapdragon S4 mobile processors MSM8225Q and MSM8625Q will now offer OEMs both dual-core and quad-core CPUs and performance for entry-level smartphones. Snapdragon S4 Play MSM8625Q features Qualcomm's integrated multimode UMTS/CDMA modem, and the MSM8225Q has an integrated UMTS modem.

Both processors enable Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and FM connectivity using the Qualcomm Atheros (News - Alert) AR6005 and WCN2243 chips.

'Our broad portfolio of Snapdragon S4 mobile processors delivers the optimal balance of features and performance for the high-volume smartphone segment,' said Cristiano Amon, senior vice president and co-president of mobile and computing products. 'By offering both dual-core and quad-core CPU versions of the Snapdragon S4 Play processor, we are providing our OEM and operating partners a competitive and differentiated platform.'

The new Snapdragon S4 Play and Plus processors are designed specifically for high-volume smartphones, and provide device manufacturers the ability to migrate their existing Snapdragon S1-based designs to S4 dual- and quad-core CPU-based designs.

This capability is particularly useful for device manufacturers looking to efficiently expand their smartphone product lines with more advanced 3G/LTE (News - Alert) smartphone products.

Qualcomm also announced a single platform, the Snapdragon S4 Plus MSM8930, which supports all China operators with UMTS, CDMA and TD-SCDMA. This single platform will support LTE-TDD and TD-SCDMA, targeting mid-tier smartphones for use in China.

MSM8930 will be ready for customer sampling by the end of 2012, expected to be in commercial devices by the first quarter of 2013.

Qualcomm will also be releasing Qualcomm Reference Design (QRD) versions of all three processors. This includes comprehensive handset development platforms and an ecosystem program, providing access to third-party providers of tested and verified hardware and software components.