Nokia Chooses New CPU Supplier for Apollo Devices

ST-Ericsson has announced that they have been selected by Nokia as a supplier for Windows Phone 8 devices. Since this clearly states Windows Phone 8, don’t expect anything new anytime soon. Even with the extended release date, we can glean some nice things to come. For one, dual-core chips are definitely in the pipeline (even if they are a awhile from getting into consumer hands) as NovaThor is a set of dual-core CPUs (U5500, U8500, U9500). The U5500, the little baby of the bunch, packs a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor with support for 720p recording and up to 12MP camera sensors. The SoC includes the ARM Mali-400 GPU. At the high-end we have the U9500, which ups video recording to 1080p and supports either a single WXGA screen or dual (no, that’s not a typo…) XGA screens. I doubt Windows Phone will support dual screens by the time Windows Phone 8 (aka Apollo) is released, but it’s nice to know this chipset is powerful enough to handle it. Camera Sensor support is pushed to 20MP (here’s to hoping Nokia will bring the 12MP sensor along with accompanying xenon flash from the N8 over to a Windows Phone model) with all the usual Bluetooth, GPS, WiFi, etc. support. Most interesting is support for WCDMA/HSPA+ penta band support. Hopefully Microsoft will be so kind as to let Nokia resume making penta band UMTS phones, it makes importing phones so much more friendly. Looks like Qualcomm wont have a monopoly on Windows Phone manufacturers for much longer.

ST-Ericsson Press Release is below:

We are pleased to announce that Nokia has selected ST-Ericsson as a supplier for future devices it plans to introduce based on Windows Phone OS. ST-Ericsson’s selection by Nokia as a key partner for Windows smartphones confirms our company strategy to be present in all segments and its capability to port all major operating systems.

Today’s announcement also highlights the traction that our NovaThor platforms are beginning to get as ST-Ericsson continues to gain in the market, enabling our customers to bring great smartphones to the market.