HTC moving away from Qualcomm, evaluating Broadcom chipsets

September 22, 2009 | By Surur

In a move which will delight many, Digitimes reports HTC is looking at alternate chipset suppliers for their smartphones.

On the entry-level and mid-range side HTC is looking at Broadcom, possibly their cost-effective Broadcom’s dual-core CPU solutions.

On the high end HTC is only now entering the design process for Nvidia Tegra CPUs paired with 3.5G baseband chips coming from ST-Ericsson, but in what will come as a disappointment for many expecting a Tegra device from HTC this year nothing has been shipped so far yet.

Via unwiredview.com

About Surur

Site Admin and Windows Phone enthusiast, he has been using Windows Mobile devices since before they were called PocketPC’s. He is currently sporting a HTC 7 Trophy.

Tagged htc, nvidia tegra, qualcomm

wmpoweruser

Hey, I never new Qualcomm was a HTC share holder, but you are quiet right!

“Analysts said it was no surprise that Qualcomm’s chip was designed into an HTC handset given the longstanding collaboration between the companies. Strauss noted that Qualcomm is an equity investor in HTC (Qualcomm announced minority equity investment in the company in 2001).”

Groan
Wishmaster89

Even if Qualcomm will still be their main supplier cause you have to remember that Qualcomm has shares(don't know how big) in HTC.
But competition is a competiotion in the end we consumers benefit from it all.
NuShrike

HTC, just like WM, still behind the curve. Here’s to Snapdragon being everywhere in every device, as Qualcomm has been quoted.

Wishmaster89

Can you elaborate on that?
Walletless

tegra > snapdragon
more cores, better battery management

Brian

Tegra has a single core CPU, logic units != cores
That's just marketing.
rad

Snapdragon's CPU core blows away Tegra, which has an ancient 600 MHz ARM 11 core (at 1 GHz, Snapdragon is 3-4x faster, and even more so for FP-heavy ops (though not of any use in WM)).

Tegra's extra "cores" are not full processors but rather dedicated co-processors for tasks like HD decoding, which might be nice for a media-only device like the Zune HD but not for a multipurpose device like a phone that places heavy demands on the CPU.

http://intensedebate.com/people/l3v5y l3v5y

Floating point (or lack thereof) is one of the main reasons behind sluggish 3D acceleration. OpenGLES for example is designed for floating point (2.0 has no support for fixed point) so with some fp hardware, it doesn't all have to be handled as a massively processor intensive thing.

Having multiple cores/coprocessors/logic units will help offload things from the CPU freeing the CPU up a bit, and infact current generation (MSM72xx) use a processor, and a radio coprocessor.

It won't be like doubling the power of your device, but it will make a noticeable difference.

rad

All embedded ARM platforms use simpler coprocessors to augment the main CPU– typically a baseband chip (as in the MSM series) and a few others. Tegra happens to have a few more than usual, but they're for things like audio processing and HD video, which are, again, useful if you want to minimize power consumption in a media player, but in a general-purpose smartphone, you're going to have significant processing duties that aren't going to be fed to Tegra's coprocessors.

As for 3D, the ATI Imageon in the MSM7200 is actually a pretty solid GPU (theoretically 4x faster than first-gen iPhone/3G), but the poor driver implementation in HTC's phones kills it.

On floating-point, the MSM7200 series lacks the ARM11 VFP option, which provides a basic hardware floating point unit, while Tegra (using the same ARM11 core) has it. But ARM Cortex A8's NEON floating-point engine demolishes ARM11 VFP in FP performance, and Snapdragon has an even faster custom floating-point engine.

Of course, none of that means anything on WM, though, as managed apps have no way of using a hardware FPU, and even native apps can't safely do so, if at all. CE5/6 target ARMv5 (ARM9) and thus lack hardware FPU support; any devices that use hardware FP (e.g. Zune, Zune HD, some CE-based nav units) need to rebuild CE with a small mod (which WM OEMs can't do). There is a compiler switch in Visual Studio allowing for FP ops to be passed to hardware, but I don't believe it works on WM, and even so, it can't handle any errors, so your app will crash if anything goes wrong in the FP ops.

Seeing a Snapdragon device chugging through floating-point routines via WM's software floating-point DLL is quite sad indeed, like much of WM… it's like a LeMans race car maxing out at 20 mph due to wooden wheels.

http://intensedebate.com/people/l3v5y l3v5y

If "more cores, better battery management" why do all the really expensive sub 12" laptops use things like single core CULV processors and have no extra graphics hardware? Because it's a massive drain on battery!

Jos Dewey

Time for Qualcomm to altogether disappear perhaps… what with Snapdragons and Tegras who wants these?

Anybody remember when Qualcomm themselves made mobiles? I remember the one with the rounded ear piece on top, such a weird design. They only ever offered a few models I think.

Jos Dewey

Hmm, I didn't know Qualcomm made the Snapdragon too – maybe they can stay around just for the Snapdragon, heh.
Peter

Snapdragon is made by Qualcomm.

mweb586

It's politics. No one wants to see the name of the company pegged for holding their previous phones back when they go to trade up.
Peter

Just one Qualcomm finally made something good (Snapdragon) they are moving away from them? They will probably still use MSM7200 quality chips from Broadcomm.
ct123

The problem with all the types of chips and windows mobile is that it makes it very difficult for developers to code high end graphics software that will work on ALL windows mobile devices.
Take for example games like xtrakt, NFS and others who are working in accelerated mode and with nice graphics on the HTC MSM7X devices and are not working well at all on devices like Omnia II, Acer M900-F900 etc even though those devices do support openGL.
The more chips you have running windows mobile the harder it will be for developers to create software with nice graphics because they have to code the software to work with more chips. Most of the developers simply wont do it and would rather program from other platforms.

The iPhone (I don't have one) does not have this problem because all the software coded for it is for the same device using the same chip.

I hope windows mobile 7 (or maybe even 6.5) can address this issue in some way otherwise we will have the same "software quality" issue with m$ next OS.

Each chip and OEM has is own special way for accessing the accelerometer and GPU which makes it a nightmare for the programmers

http://www.intensedebate.com/people/l3v5y l3v5y

The whole point of OpenGL is that it's hardware independent. Also, WM supports this magical thing called DirectX (which is what desktops do as well) and if the OEM does their job is hardware accelerated 3D graphics.

When people start reverse engineering the graphics drivers instead of using the standard graphics interfaces, that is where the issues come. It's the developers own fault if it doesn't work on multiple devices!

The accelerometer is a different matter. WM7 with it's requirement for one should have a Sensors API, but since it's currently something OEMs bung in as a nice little feature, it's not something developers should really be using. Samsung are the only ones with a public API for sensor access. The support for HTC devices is purely via reverse engineering, so you can't really blame HTC for making it a crap solution. Yes, it would have been nice if they'd released an API, but they haven't, and they have no legal requirement to!

Aym

Welcome to last year. HTC did the same thing more than a year ago. and yes Qualcomm owns a stake in HTC. http://www.mobiletechworld.com/2009/09/22/htc-eva…
Onesolo

At last!!! Qualcomm chips sucks!!!
It's a joke that you need a 1GHz (snaapdragon) to make a WinMo pda fluid…
yolona

Cheap A&F Made Me Fashionable too
abercrombieOuterwear
abercrombie and fitchabercrombie henleys crew
abercrombie & fitchhollister uk
abercrombie saleabercrombie women
abercrombie fitchabercrombie men
A&F

Scan QR Codes, UPC, EAN, Code 39/128 or ITF barcodes on your Windows Phone 7 to find best prices online.

Enjoy slots? Blackjack? Video Poker? Play Crazy Casino FREE!

#1 FREE Solitaire on WP7

If your a fan of Pong then you will love this game. Heavenly Skies. Save the universe! Are you ready?

A rewarding mix of match 3 and tetris gameplay

Free, Live Tile support for Word Of The Day and so much more. Why NOT try it out?

Set up reminders with only two taps. Supports also text reminders and voice reminders.

Download the best puzzle game in WP7 Marketplace for FREE!

Are you a good Alchemist ? Use your brain to discover Atomic Energy, Chuck Norris, Angry Birds and 1400 more !

Fun puzzle game with over 150 levels!

Fully featured, beautifully designed WP7 YouTube app.

u.n.i MEGA PACK (FREE), the ultimate addictive top GAMES bundle for Windows Phone 7! 7+ and growing!

Highly addictive word game designed for adrenaline junkies. Practice locally, but then are you fast enough to compete online?

Livescape is an activity and nutrition journal that features GPS tracking and the ability to count steps!

The smartest Google reader app.

Air Soccer Tour - Addictive FREE swipe soccer game. Win the world cup.

Beat the Story Mode. When your done Bring your skill online. Rank up by winning online matches. Have 1 on 1's with anyone! Global Online Multiplayer!

Never miss a bill again, now with a double-sided Live Tile and pop-up reminders.

Newest devices leaks, online charts and ultimate performance benchmark for every Windows Phone.

Every day, get great app deals from Windows Phone developers pushed to you!

Quick Tiles, a fully featured live tile editor for Windows Phone.

Great sports app for NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL. Pin scores/games to live tile on your home screen.

Local 1777 Ringtones , Zedge , Record and Save Ringtone ,Secret Voice Recorder and 7 Different Piano and Xylophone..Try Now..

MobileFax gives you the opportunity to send fax pages from your mobile phone anytime, anywhere !

Wheel of Wealth is a multiplayer turn based game based on the hit TV show Wheel of Fortune.

Embark on an adventure to locate the long lost Golden Chalice!

Enjoy a better WP7 experience with better & simpler apps

The most engaging weather experience with gorgeous live animations, simple intuitive Metro UI, live tiles, detailed weather data and much much more.

Promote your app on WMPoweruser.com