Date: 13/02/2009

New HSPA+ chipset for 3G mobile phones

Qualcomm has announced a new family of HSPA+ chipset solutions for mobile handsets and data cards, which will be sampled in a scheduled manner in next one and half year. See down below for sampling schedule.
The new HSPA+ chipsets include the Mobile Station Modem (MSM) MSM8260, MSM8660 and MSM8270 solutions for mobile handsets, as well as the Mobile Data Modem (MDM) MDM8220 for data applications.
The family of products also includes a new Qualcomm transceiver-the QTR8610-which supports worldwide 3G bands and integrates Bluetooth, GPS, FM radio, and necessary codecs to deliver a high level of functionality in a single chip.

"As HSPA+ becomes an increasingly popular option for network operators looking to maximize their investments in 3G networks, Qualcomm has expanded its HSPA+ product roadmap to now include a comprehensive family of chipsets covering multiple tiers of the wireless market," said Alex Katouzian, vice president of product management for Qualcomm CDMA Technologies. "The advanced connectivity, multimedia and processing capabilities of our chipsets are enabling the next-generation mobile user experience."

The MSM8260, MSM8660 and MSM8270 solutions for mobile handsets deliver a new level of mobile multimedia performance, including:

1. Scorpion 1.2 GHz processor and 600 MHz DSP for high levels of web application and multimedia performance

2. Support for innovative 3D/2D user interfaces and console-quality gaming via dedicated, high performance graphics engines

3. 16 megapixel camera

4. Full 1080p HD video playback and recording

5. Support for DTS/Dolby 5.1 surround sound

6. Integrated Assisted-GPS, including support for Glonass satellite services

7. Support for 24-bit WXGA (1280 x 800) displays

8. 45nm process technology for ultra-low power consumption

The MSM8260 supports 3GPP Release 7 HSPA+ for data rates of up to 28 Mbps. The MSM8660 adds support for 3GPP/3GPP2 multimode, and the MSM8270 adds support for Release 8 dual-carrier HSPA+ for even higher data rates of up to 42 Mbps. All three products offer full backward compatibility to previous generation networks and are pin-, software- and functionally-compatible.

The MDM8220 solution for data cards features support for 3GPP Release 8 standard, dual-carrier HSPA+ for up to 42 Mbps on the downlink and 11 Mbps on the uplink. By aggregating two HSPA carriers in parallel, Release 8 HSPA+ dual-carrier technology effectively doubles the end user's bandwidth from 5 MHz to 10 MHz to enhance Web 2.0 experiences.

The new QTR8610 transceiver, which integrates support for all worldwide 3G bands and eliminates the need for standalone codecs, GPS, Bluetooth and FM radio chips, is compatible with the MSM8660, MSM8260 and MSM8270 chipsets.

Availability: Sampling schedule is given below
MDM8220: In Mid-2009
QTR8610: In Fourth quarter of 2009
MSM8260 and MSM8660: In Fourth quarter of 2009
MSM8270: In Mid-2010