Broadcom BCM21850 announced, dual core ARM Cortex A9, 21 Mbps HSPA+,Android 2.3 support

Broadcom has announced a new baseband processor for affordable and high performance smartphones. The new BCM28150 HSPA+ baseband integrates a Broadcom Merlyn applications processor with the latest VideoCore IV mobile multimedia/graphics technology. This new baseband offers customers one of the highest performance, smallest footprint size and lowest power smartphone solutions available for Android and other open operating systems. It has dual ARM Cortex A9 processors at 1.1 GHz frequencies, an HSPA+ modem with 21 Mbps download speeds, supports 1080p video at 60 frames per second, and also the Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

The accompanying reference platform includes the 40 nanometer (40nm) BCM28150 HSPA+ system-on-a-chip (SoC) smartphone processer, the BCM2091 radio frequency IC, the BCM59056 advanced power management unit (PMU) with charger and audio support, and a full complement of Broadcom's world-class connectivity technologies. Broadcom will be demonstrating its new BCM28150 smartphone processor reference design at next week's 2011 Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona, Spain, from February 14th through February 17th.

Broadcom has also announced BCM21654 which is a single core version of the BCM21850 along with an integrated 3G HSPA modem that supports 7.2 Megabits per second (Mbps) of downstream connectivity. That's a new 3G baseband processor that integrates a powerful ARM Cortex A9 processor with high-end 3D graphics support and advanced processing for mass-market Android handsets. Manufactured in the advanced 40 nanometer (40nm) CMOS process, the new Broadcom BCM21654 HSPA processor provides mainstream smartphones with superior graphics and user interface performance that rivals high-end devices. It also includes built-in support for Android 2.3 and future releases.