SAN JOSE, CA—Renesas Mobile Corp announced what appears to be one of the first integrated multimode LTE baseband processors for mobile devices. The MP5232 is a single chip that supports both LTE and HSPA+, aimed at enabling $150-300 devices.
To date, most LTE chips require separate baseband chips to handle 2G/3G baseband connections. The extra silicon has meant the first crop of LTE devices were relatively expensive and power hungry compared to their 3G cousins.
Renesas said its chip supports multi-mode FDD and TDD-LTE Category 4 links. It does require a separate applications processor.
Samples of the MP5232 will be available before April "to lead OEMs in the form of reference designs together with supporting documentation, software and hardware," the company said. The reference designs presumably include the company's 1.5 GHz dual-core ARM-based applications processor.
The company did not provide details on the cost, size, or power consumption of the new baseband part.
Renesas's corporate parent is one of three Japanese chip companies forming a new SOC joint venture. The mobile unit is one of nearly a dozen companies competing in the hotly contested space of smartphone processors.
"We are seeing a number of $600+ LTE super phone devices being launched in the market, but the industry needs a wider penetration of LTE devices for the business case for LTE to pay off," said Jean-Marie Rolland, chief technology officer for Renesas Mobile, speaking in a press statement.
"It becomes increasingly challenging adding LTE to already packed mobile devices that are required to support different legacy modes and bands," said Malik Saadi, a principal analyst with market watcher Informa Telecoms Media, also speaking in the press statement.
This story was originally posted by EE Times.
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