ZDNet UK / News and Analysis / Workspace IT / Processors

Qualcomm doubles its chips for next-gen mobiles

By Ben Charny, CNET News, 23 May, 2003 08:01

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Processor, Mobile, Qualcomm, CDMA, double, Texas Instruments

NEWS
Qualcomm on Thursday became the latest chipmaker to begin reworking the mobile phone's fundamental architecture to prepare it for the next generation of phone services. Almost all mobile phones use a single processor. Up until last year, a single chip was enough to handle all of a phone's tasks, whether making a call or downloading a photo message. But mobile phones are now struggling to keep pace with the more technically challenging services being introduced by carriers desperate for new revenue sources -- video mail and multiple-player 3D games, for instance. Handset makers, hearing the concerns of their carrier customers, have been asking chipmakers to fix the problem. The answer, coming already from chipmaker Texas Instruments, and now from Qualcomm, is to drop another processor into the phone: one for the phone's typical functions, such as making calls, and the other picking up the slack, or given tasks such as downloading music. This fundamental change in mobile phone design is difficult for all involved. Handset makers have to find room for more silicon on an already overcrowded motherboard. The phones also cost more to make, forcing carriers to carry over the increased costs to customers. But the trade-off is a better-operating phone, which should help attract people to the new services, the chipmakers say. "This addresses the growing consumer demand for higher-performance wireless devices delivering high-quality audio-visual and 2D/3D gaming, as well as the emerging wireless enterprise data market," said Sanjay Jha, president of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies. Most handset makers and carriers seem to be on board with the first generations of these new chips. NTT DoCoMo, the Japanese mobile phone service provider, sells three of these handsets. UK-based carrier Orange is now selling a dual-processor Sendo phone, the SPV. German handset maker Siemens plans to introduce its dual-processor phone this summer. All the dual-processor phones on the market now use the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) standard, on which about 75 percent of the world's phones are based. A representative for Texas Instruments, which began supplying dual-processor phone chips last year, said Nokia, Palm, Panasonic, Sony Ericsson and other phone makers have either introduced new two-chip phones, or are in the process of doing so. Qualcomm's new chips for dual-processor phones are built around another standard, CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), which is popular in North America, Japan and Korea. The company won't sample its CDMA dual-processor chips until next year, it said. It did not disclose any potential or current customers.
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