The dual-core processor is destined to be the mainstream configuration of smart phone products in 2011, and LG and Motorola's dual-core devices have already made final preparations for listing. If you want to buy a new Android smartphone in the coming months, make sure the phone uses a dual-core CPU, which will provide more performance advantages than a single-core device. If you just bought a new Android phone, you don't need to be dual-core and you can wait for the next generation of super chips. The quad-core processor first appeared on desktops in 2006, but by the end of 2011 you will find it on your phone.
Sony will be the first company to use quad-core processors on portable devices. Their NGP will use quad-core Cortex-A9 processors and PowerVR SGX543MP4+ GPUs, although it is not yet clear who will supply them. For Sony, but there will definitely be other devices using the same processor later this year.
Others, including Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, and Samsung are all preparing for quad-core CPUs, and the most likely candidates for end products will be Freescale and NVIDIA processors.
NVIDIA expects to announce their Tegra 3 at the MWC Mobile Communications World Congress in February. There are four Cortex-A9 cores, clocked at 1.5GHz and computing power of 13,800 MIPS, which is a full 3 times that of the current Tegra 2. This product was shipped in the fourth quarter of last year and was shipped this autumn.
If Tegra 3 can become the first quad-core CPU for Android phones, what time do you think such phones will be released and launched?