ST-Ericsson claims Windows Phones will use its chips
updated 08:50 am EDT, Fri May 20, 2011
ST-Ericsson claims Nokia WP7 will use
The chief of STMicroelectronics Carlo Bozotti says that some Windows Phones in the near future will be incorporating its chips. Among its clientele is Nokia, which he claims will be using its chips in some of its shipping Windows Phones when they go on sale as anticipated early next year. The development is significant as, to date, Microsoft has insisted that for consistency of user experience, that any Windows 7 phone must use a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor among other tight guidelines.
Bozotti told Forbes that ST-Ericsson would be one of two chip suppliers when Nokia starts shipping its Windows Phones. Nokia already incorporates the ST-Ericsson chips in its phones. The ST-Ericsson’s latest chip, the U8500 is a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 1.2GHz with a Mali 400 GPU SOC. It is capable of 1080p playback and supports OpenGL ES2.0. It is currently used in the Samsung Infuse 4G and it will be future versions of this design that will find its way into Nokia’s Windows Phone 7 devices and ultimately Windows Phone 8 devices.
The development could be an example of the special leeway that Nokia was able to wrest from Microsoft in signing up to deliver WP7 devices.
