MediaTek plans for quad-core chips in budget smartphones by early 2013

MediaTek chip

As much as MediaTek is known for powering budget smartphones, the company is keen to make a fast track into the big leagues. Or bigger, at any rate. General manager Xie Qingjiang explains to China Times that MediaTek should have a quad-core, 28-nanometer mobile processor in production between the fall and the very start of 2013 -- not bad for a firm that just introduced a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 design this summer. Smartphones built around the new part should arrive before the first quarter of 2013 is over. Details aren't available for the processor in question, although it's reasonable to say that MediaTek is more likely to serve a cost-conscious crowd than to compete in the lofty realms of the similarly 28nm Snapdragon S4 Pro. The move to quad-core could nonetheless be a welcome spike in performance for an audience that often has to settle for old technology.

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MediaTek plans for quad-core chips in budget smartphones by early 2013 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Sep 2012 22:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Qualcomm Q3 2012 earnings show revenue ($4.63b) and profit ($1.21b) up sharply over last year

Qualcomm is reporting its financial numbers for the last quarter and has been the trend, it's a good time to be everywhere in the wireless business. Continued strong demand for 3G and 4G-connected hardware is keeping sales high, driving "strong year-over-year growth" according to CEO Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, contributing to a bottom line of $4.63 billion in revenue and net income of $1.21 billion. The company's MSM (mobile station modem) chipsets continue to be the main contributor with 141 million units sold, also up yearly by 18 percent but down 7 percent from Q2, with reported device sales following the same pattern at $47.8 billion.

About that slight drop from last quarter, the Doctor continues by saying the company expects demand to be back-loaded as "new devices" are launched for the holiday season. With that in mind, it's ramping up production for 28nm Snapdragon S4 chipsets, a move that reportedly has required help from Samsung and UMC. With the next iPhone, new Android Jelly Bean hardware, Windows Phone 8 / Windows 8 devices and much more expected to arrive soon, we'll keep the old money-flying-at-Qualcomm's-HQ graphic close by. For more details, hit the source link for the PDF or read the press release after the break.

Continue reading Qualcomm Q3 2012 earnings show revenue ($4.63b) and profit ($1.21b) up sharply over last year

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Qualcomm Q3 2012 earnings show revenue ($4.63b) and profit ($1.21b) up sharply over last year originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Jul 2012 16:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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