Mobile chip vendor Broadcom has launched a new combination mobile chip that integrates Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and FM connectivity. The chip – the BCM4329 – is the vendor’s first embedded chip to support the 802.11n WLAN standard. Broadcom said that 802.11n connectivity would allow mobile devices to offer speeds of around 50Mb/s making it ideal for multimedia phones. The firm pointed to an ABI Research study that claims that combination chips will account for almost a third of all mobile connectivity solutions shipped by 2012. Broadcom said recently it is planning to introduce a new combination chip every 60 days over the coming months.
Speaking to Mobile Business Briefing, Chris Bergey, director of Broadcom’s Embedded Wireless business unit, said that the new chip was a natural migration path for customers using Broadcom’s BCM4325, its flagship combination chip launched at GSMA Mobile World Congress in February 2007. Bergey added that the lowering cost of combination chips is allowing an increasing number of mobile devices to offer Wi-Fi connectivity. He noted that the Bill of Materials (BOM) cost for supporting Wi-Fi connectivity in mobile handsets had dropped to around US$3 and that Wi-Fi was now less of a “power-hog” on a handset’s battery life than 3G. He said the new chip was suitable for media-centric “feature phones” as well as smartphones and products such as netbooks. In a statement, Broadcom said the BCM4329 is scheduled for “significant production quantities” in 2009.
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