on Tuesday revealed that it is expanding beyond mobile devices with new variants of its Snapdragon S4 processor. The company announced chips that will power HDTVs and set-top boxes, as well as PCs and various Windows 8 devices. The upcoming processors will be available in four different tiers: Prime, Pro, Plus and Play. The Snapdragon S4 Prime chip features a 1.5GHz quad-core CPU with Adreno 320 graphics and will power smart TVs, while the S4 Pro processors will power the next-generation of Windows RT tablets and laptops. The Snapdragon S4 Plus is designed for the high-end smartphone market and the S4 Play will focus on the entry level smartphone market, featuring dual-core CPUs clocked to 1.2GHz and Adreno 203 graphics. Read on for Qualcomm’s announcement.
The new portfolio includes the following processor classes:
• Prime – Snapdragon S4 Prime processors will power the next wave of enhanced smart TV experiences – including leading audio/video capabilities, pure web browsing and more robust applications – delivering on Qualcomm’s commitment of keeping consumers continuously connected to their favorite devices, content and apps. Processors in the S4 Prime tier include the Snapdragon S4 Prime MPQ8064 processor, featuring a 1.5GHz quad-core CPU – based on Qualcomm’s Krait micro-architecture – Adreno™ 320 graphics and advanced audio/video capabilities, delivering mobile users the highest performing mobile experience while consuming less power.
• Pro – Snapdragon S4 Pro processors feature the Adreno 320 GPU and support for higher resolution displays, as well as hardware and software compatibility with the S4 class. The Adreno 320 is a high performance programmable GPU, providing a superior user experience for Web browsing, games, user interfaces and other graphics applications. The Adreno 320 also infuses the S4 Pro version with new multimedia capabilities, including computational camera -the ability to tap directly into the computational capability of the Adreno 320 GPU through new APIs like OpenCL, to enable next-generation use cases such as light-field cameras for mobile devices. In support of next-generation 3D graphics APIs, Adreno 320 will enable more realistic 3D graphic effects through hardware acceleration of advanced rendering features like instancing, occlusion queries and multiple render targets. Adreno 320 also includes dedicated hardware to accelerate Windows and fully supports the top game engines in the industry from Unity, Epic and others. Processors in the S4 Pro tier include APQ8064 and MSM8960T (the Pro version of MSM8960).
• Plus – Snapdragon S4 Plus processors bring outstanding application processing and leading-edge 3G and 4G internet connection speeds, allowing OEMs to introduce S4-based devices with next-generation mobile architecture throughout their respective device roadmaps – from basic smartphones to high-end smartphones and tablets. The enhanced S4 processors also are optimized for use with a suite of software solutions available from Qualcomm that help enable OEMs to deliver industry-leading feature sets for multimedia, connectivity, camera, display, security, power management, browsing and natural user interface design. Processors in the S4 Plus tier include MSM8960, APQ8060A, MSM8660A, MSM8260A, APQ8030, MSM8930, MSM8630, MSM8230, MSM8627 and MSM8227.
• Play – Snapdragon S4 Play Processors are designed specifically for high-volume smartphones. Processors in the S4 Play tier include MSM8625 and MSM8225. Both chipsets provide dual-core CPUs operating up to 1.2 GHz, Qualcomm’s Adreno 203 GPU and an integrated 3G modem. The MSM8625 and MSM8225 chipsets are designed to be hardware and software compatible with the MSM7x27A and MSM7x25A family of chipsets, giving device manufacturers the ability to seamlessly migrate their existing Snapdragon S1-based designs to S4 dual core-based designs. This capability is particularly useful for device manufacturers to efficiently expand their smartphone product lines with more advanced and more capable 3G smartphone products.
