Qualcomm Launches New Snapdragon Chip, Will Ship By End Of Year

On Monday, chipmaker Qualcomm announced plans to start shipping its latest Snapdragon chip by the fourth quarter of 2010. The new dual core chip will run at speeds of up to 1.5-GHz and is expected to be featured in a variety of smartphones and tablets.

The new QSD8672 succeeds the MSM8660, a similar dual core Snapdragon chip which ran at 1.2-GHz. The chip adds a bevy of upgrades, including improved battery life and performance, 1080p video playback, integrated HDMI and support for DDR2 and DDR3 memory interfaces. The QSD8672 is also capable of having one CPU core idle when it’s not being used, which will improve battery life.

Qualcomm expects devices which feature the QSD8672 to begin hitting store shelves by early next year, but the company says that it’s possible for some products to reach consumers by the end of this year.