Broadcom shopping high-end smartphone chipsets to manufacturers

Broadcom's connectivity chips are in many devices, as is the case with Qualcomm, but only the Texans have popular smartphone systems-on-a-chip, the Snapdragon family.

Now Broadcom says that it is developing powerful ARM-based chips, and shopping them to smartphone and tablet manufacturers, but didn't disclose which companies will be using those.

We know that Broadcom already has the dual-core BCM28150. It is a Cortex-A9 endeavor, and has two cores ticking at 1.1Ghz, VideoCore IV GPU with a Vector Processing Unit, and integrated GPS, which also supports the Russian satellite system GLONASS for better positioning.

Broadcom's dual-core 1.1GHz chipset rings in the usual niceties like Full HD 1080p video recording at 30fps, and 3D stereoscopic video, but it also brings 1080p video output simultaneously on the phone screen and on a TV up to 1080p at 60fps, including 3D graphics at 1Gpx/s. Yes, that means you can use the integrated HDMI support, and play 3D games at 1080p resolutions on your TV with 60fps via your cell phone.

That is last year's effort, though, so we assume Broadcom is talking about something more powerful, maybe a quad-core silicon. The company has covered the entry level market with a lowly Android chipset, the BCM28150 can be mid-tier, and the unnamed processor will target the high-end, so out of nowhere it might have a full chipset portfolio to offer, not to mention it is traditionally strong in wireless connectivity radios.

Broadcom says this is in line with its strategy to be a one-stop-shop for mobile chipsets, but we will spare judgment until we see something announced with the company's silicon.

source: Reuters