Qualcomm doesn't have exclusive Windows Phone deal, dual-core Nokia on its way after all?

Well, well, well. You were so adamant to proclaim yourself as the sole chipset provider for upcoming Mango handsets, weren't you Qualcomm? As it turns out, The Inquirer has uncovered your dirty little secret: you don't have an exclusivity agreement with Microsoft! Your very own Raj Talluri, VP of Product Management, has turned against you to reveal the truth:

With Qualcomm's Snapdragon being the reference design for WP7 handsets, it is understandable to think that Microsoft and Qualcomm have signed a piece of paper ensuring some sort of exclusivity. However Raj Talluri, VP of product management at Qualcomm told The INQUIRER that Qualcomm "does not have an exclusive on WP7", adding that "there is no written exclusive".

According to Talluri the reason why Qualcomm's Snapdragon became the default choice is due to "partners finding Qualcomm's Snapdragon the most compelling solution", rather than any concrete agreement between Microsoft and Qualcomm.

This is a lot bigger than it may seem at first. The fact that Qualcomm never had an exclusivity arrangement with Microsoft means earlier confirmation from ST-Ericsson of a dual-core Nokia phone powered by their chipsets is extremely likely to happen now. Some of you may ask, "then why is Nokia supposedly using Qualcomm in the Sea Ray?" We'd respond by telling you to read the article again, as ST-Ericsson said Nokia will be switching between them and Qualcomm for many of their devices.

We're at a loss for words. This really does change everything we expected from Nokia's upcoming hardware. Let's hope we hear more on August 17th.

Via: Electronista
Source: The Inquirer

Qualcomm streamlines Snapdragon processor classes, joins Nokia in hatred of letters and numbers

Looks like Qualcomm and Nokia have become such good BFFs with their co-relationship with Microsoft, they've started planning things together too. Earlier this week Nokia officially ditched their Letter-Number naming conventions for their mobile phones, and now Qualcomm has done its own belated Spring cleaning to its Snapdragon line of processors.

From this point onward, the San Diego-based company will be organizing their precious silicon into four classes based on their intended market. Therefore, Snapdragons can be organized with S1 for mass market phones, S2 for high-performance tablets and smartphones, S3 for advanced multitasking and gaming, and finally S4 for the next-generation devices.

Where does Windows Phone fit into this? Current devices are running the QSD8250 and therefore would fall under the lowest S1 class. That's not surprising considering the SoC is more than a year and a half old. However, new Mango hardware is said to be running either the high-end MSM8x55 or the mid-range MSM7x30 processors and so would fall under the better S2 class. We suppose Qualcomm is just doing this to make journalists' lives a bit easier (thank you!) and it shouldn't drastically affect the way you think about the fairy dust that powers your smartphone.

Via: AnandTech, MobileTechWorld