Leo, re: QCOM Delays Quad Core SOCs by a Quarter (w/ Roadmap Detail)
Snip from your article---
The products in question that are affected by the delay are Qualcomm's high-end parts, such as the quad core MSM8974 and APQ8094, which we reported about in some detail back in September.
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Reposting (w/ my edits) of your article’s referenced articles detailing QCOM chipset roadmap revealed last September.
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Qualcomm reveals future plans, we give you the details
Reported by LG Nilsson on Saturday, September 17 2011 3:45 am
Earlier this week Qualcomm hosted its Innovation Qualcomm event in Istanbul where the company unveiled details of some of its upcoming products, including a 2.5GHz next generation Snapdragon SoC. However, a lot of details were left out, but VR-Zone is here to help fill in the blanks as to what to expect from Qualcomm over the next couple of years.
From the event we know that Qualcomm is getting ready to launch a 28nm SoC with clock speeds of up to 2.5GHz in single, dual and quad core versions, all with next gen Adreno dual or quad core graphics. However, the company didn't say much more and some publications made the assumption that Qualcomm would have a quad core solution for phones out by early next year. Well, sadly this isn't the case for those of you that are longing to get your hands on a quad core phone, but let's not get ahead of ourselves, instead, let's start from the top.
The current series of Snapdragon SoC's from Qualcomm are known as the S3 class, also known as Scorpion and here we're talking about chips like the current MSM8660 and MSM8260 as well as the APQ8060 which lacks baseband support. These SoC's can be found in a wide range of devices from HP's now defunct TouchPad to HTC's Sensation and EVO 3D. They're all 45nm dual core parts with Adreno 220 graphics and a core clock speed of between 1.2 and 1.5GHz.
The next generation of Snapdragon chips will be the S4 class, as Qualcomm are keeping things simple when it comes to its naming schemes, although these chips are more commonly known as Krait. The first new Krait SoC's to arrive is the
+ MSM8260A,
+ MSM8660A and the
+ MSM8960,
all of which are 28nm dual core parts with a clock speed of 1.5 or 1.7GHz and 1MB of L2 cache. All three models sports support for dual channel 500MHz LPDDR2, faster Adreno 225 graphics said to be good for 125 million triangles per second. The MSM8960 should also come in a version with a faster Adreno 330 GPU capable of some 200 million triangles.
The main difference between the MSM8260A and MSM8660A is that the 8260A supports dual-cell HSPA+ and TD-SCDMA, whereas the 8660A supports HSPA+ and various EV-DO standards mostly used in the US.
The MSM8690 sports LET in addition to the connectivity options on the other two models and will be available with either CDMA or UMTS in addition to LTE. All three models should enter mass production next quarter, although devices based on these dual core SoC's aren't expected until the second quarter of next year.
As far as phones are concerned, this is as much as we get for all of 2012,
but in early 2013 Qualcomm is expecting to launch its first quad core phone SoC, the ** MSM8974**. This isn't the 2.5GHz chip the company has been talking about, but instead a slightly slower 2GHz part with 2MB L2 cache. It will support dual channel 800MHz LPDDR3 memory and comes with a faster Adreno 330 GPU core which is capable of 200 million triangles per second. It will support the latest LTE and CD-HSPA+ MIMO standards and it'll be Qualcomm's first phone SoC to sport USB 3.0 connectivity. Some of the more crazy features Qualcomm is planning to add is 4K x 2K video at 24fps, 1080p video at 120fps or 1080p 3D video at 60fps.
If you're still waiting for the 2.5GHz part, then please bear with us a little bit longer, as we'll get there in just a second. Qualcomm's first quad core SoC will be the **APQ8064** and as you may or may not know, the APQ models don't feature any built in baseband technology. As such, the APQ chips tend to be used in many devices that don't require internet connectivity, or more commonly as of lately, in tablets where there's room for additional chips that will handle the connectivity. The APQ8064 is similar to the MSM8960, as it's a 1.5 to 1.7GHz SoC, although with a pair of additional cores and 2MB L2 cache. It features Adreno 320 graphics, but it also offers SATA and PCI Express connectivity, something the MSM chips lack.
Things brings us to the 2.5GHz monster, well, it might in fact be even faster as it's not expected to arrive until the second half of 2013. The model in question is the APQ8094 and it'll support either 800MHz dual channel LPDDR3 memory, or dual channel 1333MHz PCDDR4 memory, or in other words, standard desktop DDR4 memory. Apparently by then, desktop memory will be so low power that it will be just as good to use in a tablet as low power mobile memory. Here we're looking at an Adreno 420 GPU which is said to be capable of 400 million triangles per second. Beyond that we don't' have too many details about this upcoming chip, but it'll offer SATA connectivity just like its predecessor and apparently it'll do 3D video at 60fps in 1080p.
We'll be following up this article with a closer look at Qualcomm's more affordable options next week, although as always when we're diving into roadmaps, things are likely going to change before most of these products arrive and we've already seen that some of the models covered here have had their specs changed from earlier roadmaps. That said, it looks like Qualcomm has some interesting products coming over the next couple of years, but the real question is, is it going to be good enough, as the company is getting more and more competitors and none of them are resting on their laurels.
Image courtesy of Pocket-Lint
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Qualcomm unveils new Snapdragon processors
Reported by LG Nilsson on Thursday, November 17 2011 8:50 am
We've already written about some of Qualcomm's upcoming products and now the company has officially announced at least some of those products. The company is readying a range of Snapdragon S4 and S1 processors for next year with the S4 models being based on its new Krait CPU core. VR-Zone has collected some specifications of the newly announced models alongside details of some not yet announced models to give you a better idea of what Qualcomm is working on.
We've already written about some of Qualcomm's upcoming products and now the company has officially announced at least some of those products. The company is readying a range of Snapdragon S4 and S1 processors for next year with the S4 models being based on its new Krait CPU core. VR-Zone has collected some specifications of the newly announced models alongside details of some not yet announced models to give you a better idea of what Qualcomm is working on.
The new S4 models the Qualcomm unveiled are the MSM8660A, MSM8260A, MSM8630, MSM8230, MSM8627, MSM8227, APQ8060A and APQ8030
with the new entry and budget S1 models being the MSM7225A, MSM7625A, MSM7227A and MSM7627A. We've already covered the MSM8660A and the MSM8260A in quite some detail already which you can read here, as well as some other high-end solutions from Qualcomm. As for the other models, well, Qualcomm didn't exactly provide a lot of detail, so we'll try and fill in the blanks.
(S4 Models)
+ Let's start with the MSM8630 and MSM8230,
….a pair of very similar chips to the already announced MSM8930. These are all 28nm parts with the MSM8630 being a CDMA chip with support for 21Mbps HSPA+ as well as EV-DO whereas the MSM8230 supports DC-HSPA+ and TD-SCDMA of which the latter is for the Chinese market. All three models are clocked at 1.2GHz, sports a pair of cores, 1MB L2 cache and supports single channel LPDDR2 memory at speeds of up to 533MHz. Other features include support for 1080p video recording at 30fps and 3D stills at up to 12Megapixels. The GPU core will be the Adreno 305 and we can expect to see these SoC's towards the second half of 2012. We should also point out that Qualcomm classifies these models as mid-range by the time they launch.
(S2?)
+ Moving down a tier we or two we find the MSM7225A
….. at the bottom which is a 800MHz part at the most based on a 45nm Cortex A5 core paired up with 256KB of L2 cache and an Adreno 200 GPU. It supports 200MHz LPDDR memory, HSUPA connectivity and is limited to HVGA displays. This is a direct replacement for the MSM7225 which is based on the older ARM11 architecture. It sibling for the EV-DO market is the MSM7625A which offers identical spec bar the EV-DO connectivity.
(S3?)
+ Stepping up one tier we find the MSM7227A the replacement for the very popular MSM7227 and once again we're finding a 45nm ARM Cortex A5 core here although this time with clock speeds of up to 1GHz. There's also support for slightly higher resolutions here with FWVGA (854x480) support. Again there's an EV-DO sibling called the MSM7625A which once again sports near identical spec. All the Cortex A5 models should be available to Qualcomm's partners forthwith.
(S1)
This brings us to the MSM8227 which appears to the first Snapdragon based entry budget model from Qualcomm. This is an interesting part in as much as it's signalling a move away from single core processors even in fairly affordable devices as it sports a 28nm dual core 1GHz Krait based processor with 512MB L2 cache. It supports 400MHz LPDDR2 memory, 21Mbps HSPA+, TD-SCDMA, 720p video recording and it sports an Adreno 305 GPU. Its EV-DO sibling is the MSM8267 which once again carries near identical specs. These two models aren't set to appear until the second half of next year.
( APQ models)
The APQ models, otherwise known as the modem-less models are fairly similar in terms of spec with the higher-end APQ8060A being a direct replacement for the APQ8060. Here we're looking at yet another dual core 28nm Krait based chip with clock speeds of between 1.5 and 1.7GHz paired up with 1MB L2 cache. This model supports 500MHz LPDDR2 memory, 1080p video recording but sadly sports the current Adreno 225 GPU. That said, this model should be available as of right now to Qualcomm's partners, so the older GPU is excused.
The more affordable option here is the APQ8030 which is also a 28nm dual core Krait part although this time around with a 1GHz core speed and we don't know the actual cache on this model but we'd guess it's 512KB. Otherwise we're looking at support for 533MHz LPDDR2 memory, 1080p video recording and an Adreno 305 GPU. This models as with so many of the other chips announced isn't expected until the second half of next year.
(S1?)
We can also give you an insight on a few models that Qualcomm didn't announce that falls in the lower-end of the market. By 2013 Qualcomm is planning on releasing the MSM8226 which will replace the MSM7225A and this will be Qualcomm's first dual core 28nm Cortex A5 implementation. We're looking at clock speeds of 1GHz, 512KB L2 cache, support for 533MHz LPDDR2, 21Mbps HSPA+, TD-SCDMA, 720p video recording and an Adreno 305 GPU. It's EV-DO sibling is the MSM8626.
(S2?)
Moving up one tier we find the MSM8928 which is fairly similar to the MSM8227 as both are 28nm dual core Krait based processors clocked at 1GHz, but theMSM8928 gets support for 800MHz LPDDR3, LTE category 3, DC-HSPA+, TD-SCDMA and 1080p video recording. The GPU is also the slightly faster Adreno 310.
Finally we have another APQ model, namely the APQ8074 which is a mainstream quad core Krait based chip with clock speeds of between 2-2.5GHz. It supports dual channel LPDDR3, 2MB L2 cache, dual 1080p video streams at 60fps for 3D video and finally an Adreno 330 GPU. All three models should arrive sometime in 2013.
We should also note that it appears the Qualcomm thinks the feature phone market is dead, as the company is only planning a single new part for next year as far as we can tell. We're not surprised though, as the only really valid change here would really be to do a die shrink if anything, as it's not as if the feature phone marking is moving forward in leaps and bounds.
Source: Qualcomm
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