By Riddle me this: what is the difference between the Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8260, MSM855T, and MSM8930? If that has you scratching your head, you’re not alone. Acknowledging that their current naming scheme isn’t the most consumer friendly way of identifying the various chipsets the company makes for mobile handsets, Qualcomm has announced that they will be moving to a new tier system to help identify where a CPU falls on the spectrum of performance.
Starting with S1, the basic 1GHz CPU that has become almost standard in any smartphone worth its salt, the new system assigns a different category to each level of processor speed and performance (see above breakdown). Right now the number goes through S4 — blazing fast 1.6-2.5GHz chips not found in any current handset — but Qualcomm says as time progresses older processors won’t be phased down to lower tiers. Instead, new levels will be added (S5, S6, etc.). Model numbers will no doubt still exit, though they will mostly be kept behind the scenes when it comes to marketing materials. Personally, we can’t wait to see handsets rocking S4 chips, but we can only imagine where things will go from there.
[via TechCrunch]
Bring it on… I want a new Verizon HTC phone rocking an S4 Chip…
Dreams come true…
Make it a Nexus and I’ll bite.
Who wouldn’t? They wouldn’t be able to keep those things in stock!
Did you say “tiered”? RAAWWR
Sorry, I’m traumatized by that word.
So what is the anticipated time frame for devices to be shipped with S4 chips?
Anybody else notice that from S2 on up, the chips support Dolby 5.1? Are manufacturers actually using this? Over the HDMI cable perhaps?
Will S4 have Krait CPU?
This is good. Some people think The Snapdragon that was in the original Dinc is the same one in the Dinc2… I am sure at least a few people stayed away from the follow up because there was little differentiating between the processors.
Umm, this is just as stupid as they’re models now. What they should do is start a naming process that actually has, well, names. Like snapdragon “spitfire”, “tailwhip”, “synergy” etc. at least this would promote name recognition for the non-geek community.