While we know that Qualcomm will still be powering the initial batch of Windows Phone 7 devices by Nokia, the company has just announced that its upcoming Snapdragon family of processors including the Snapdragon MSM8960 with integrated 3G/LTE modem will be used to power the next version of Windows (tentatively named Windows 8 for now) devices. As we all know, Microsoft has made the shift to ARM processors for its next version of Windows to make it more tablet-friendly.
The first Snapdragon processor to power Windows 8 will be the dual-core MSM8960 which is being sampled this month. Next up will be the quad-core Snapdragon APQ8064 that is said to be sampled in early 2012. Qualcomm has stated that its new Snapdragon family of mobile processors has been built from the ground up to deliver enhanced power efficiency for devices running Windows 8, with dual and quad asynchronous CPU cores that can be independently controlled to deliver maximum performance at maximum efficiency.
After having Windows running on Intel x86 processors for as long as I can remember, it’s interesting to see where this new partnership will take Microsoft’s operating system. It looks like they’re trying to change things up a bit over at Redmond. Find out more about Qualcomm Snapdragon processors.
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