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Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 to appear in consumer devices at MWC

Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 to appear in consumer devices at MWC

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Qualcomm's next-gen dual-core Snapdragon S4, the MSM8960, will feature integrated LTE and debut in consumer products at Mobile World Congress 2012.

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qualcomm msm8960, photo credit anandtech
qualcomm msm8960, photo credit anandtech

The dual-core Snapdragon S4 chip that wowed us this morning will definitely be showing up at Mobile World Congress in consumer devices. Qualcomm VP of product management Raj Talluri told GigaOm that the MSM8960 chip would debut in multiple phones next week in Barcelona, and emphasized the chip's integrated LTE processor. Current LTE phones have a separate LTE processor, which is often cited as a reason for poor battery life. Qualcomm's system-on-chip integrates LTE into the die, allowing it to share resources and potentially alleviate some of the battery drain issues. We'll hopefully get our hands on some devices at MWC next week and put this to the test. Nvidia recently stated that it's planning chips with integrated LTE for sometime this year, but Qualcomm has a huge head start. Nvidia still has the upper hand when it comes to number of cores, though, as Talluri noted that his company won't be showing off any quad-core consumer products at MWC, only concept quad-core devices.

RIM was also rumored to be holding off the first of its BlackBerry 10 devices until it had access to a dual-core chip with integrated LTE, and had been looking to Texas Instruments or Qualcomm to provide it. With the company expected to show off the BB10 operating system at MWC, it's not out of the question that the MSM8960 could be powering the BlackBerry London.