A “leaked” Qualcomm roadmap indicates the company is preparing to shift its mobile chip efforts into overdrive.
Indeed, 1.5GHz to 1.7GHz dual-core (8960) chipsets will be hitting smartphones by the end of 2011 or the beginning of 2012.
Both Windows 8 certified chipsets are expected to be paired with the Adreno 225 – which is believed to rival the raw GPU power of the Playstation Vita.
Meanwhile, the dual-core 8930 series will clock in at 1GHz-1.2GHz and feature the advanced Adreno 3 GPU.
As Phandroid’s Quentyn Kennemer notes, the 8930 lineup and Adreno 3 GPU will take the SoCs “far beyond the possibilities of the Playstation Vita and more into the realm of the Xbox 360 or the Playstation 3.”
By 2013, Qualcomm is slated to roll out quad-core chipsets ranging from 2.0GHz to 2.5GHz in clock speed – all, of course, paired with a spiffy Adreno 320 GPU.
Obviously, Qualcomm is expected to face stiff competition from rivals like Nvidia, Texas Instruments (TI) and Samsung.
Nevertheless, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon has thus far proved its ability to hold its own in the hyper-competitive mobile market.
To be sure, the chipset has been selected to power a wide range of popular smartphones (both past and present), including the Nexus One, HTC Droid Incredible, EVO 4G, Desire HD, Inspire, EVO 3D and Thunderbolt.
[Via Phandroid, Engadget & MobileTechWorld]
