U.S.-based Qualcomm Inc., the biggest maker of mobile-phone chips, said Monday it will feature a series of mobile devices running its next-generation Snapdragon chipset at the May 31-June 4 Computex fair in Taipei, including tablet computers from Taiwan’s HTC Corp. and Asustek Computer Inc.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chipset has been widely used in 125 kinds of smartphones and tablet PCs, with another 250 under development and 40 of them being tablet devices, the company said in a statement via email.
“We have installed the MSM8655-based Snapdragon mobile development platform in our HTC Flyer tablet PC, and we will use the MSM8660-based platform in our HTC Sensation and HTC EVO 3D smartphones that will go on sale soon, ” Kouji Kodera, HTC chief product officer, said in the statement.
“We’re looking forward to the sample of the MSM8960-based chipset, which will be used in the development of new Snapdragon mobile devices,” Kodera said.
Asustek also said that it has used the Snapdragon platform in its Android 3.0 tablet PCs because of the lower power consumption of the chipset.
Smartphones and tablets from other Taiwanese manufacturers, such as Acer, Compal, Quanta, Foxconn, Lenovo and ZTE, will also be featured the Computex at the Taipei World Trade Center and the Nangang Exhibition Hall.
According to research by Taiwan-based Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute, the global tablet market is projected to increase from 16 million units in 2010 to 43 million units this year, with Apple’s iPad comprising 71 percent of the total shipments.