Chip maker Qualcomm has announced that it can’t meet demand for some of its mobile phone processors — which means that Android and Windows-based phone manufacturers will have to seek an alternative in the coming months.
Last week we told you about Qualcomm’s new S4 Snapdragon processor, which promises lightning speeds and integrated LTE. But it is also offering a “Pro” version, specifically designed with performance graphics and hi-res display in mind.
Qualcomm’s next-generation system-on-a-chip is set to turn up inside consumer devices at the Mobile World Congress — and judging by its rumoured speed and integrated LTE technology, it could cause quite a stir.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors have been a hallmark of mobile devices for the past few years. Not content with keeping the party in your pockets, the Snapdragon is coming to your TV, to the tune of 1.5GHz quad-core processor mightiness.
Microsoft’z zippy touch-suitable Windows 8 will be compatible with Qualcomm’s dual-core and quad-core Snapdragon processors, including the MSM8960 chip, the company confirmed. Expect the other old favourites to throw their hats in the ring shortly, too.
A fairer test would involve comparing a chocolate bar with a granola bar, but Qualcomm doesn’t care. Not when their video “shows” a second-gen single-core Snapdragon (in Verizon’s Thunderbolt) speeding against a dual-core Tegra 2 (in AT&T’s Motorola Atrix).
Those upcoming Snapdragon chips of Qualcomm’s can actually stream Netflix on Android phones, as we saw on an LG Revolution at MWC. It’s unlikely you’ll be streaming from your queue anytime this year though, as we wait for Qualcomm’s new chips to find its way into phones, but as you can see from our video above, it can even stream to TVs through HDMI – and do a good job of it, too.
Netflix laid out months ago the reasons that Watch Instantly hasn’t come to Android yet. Namely, security and the challenges of making sure it works with every individual Android phone.
