Qualcomm Enhances S4 Chip

Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM - Analyst Report), the leading chipset maker for mobile handsets in the world, further enhances its advanced Snapdragon S4 800 processor, by adding two more new features to its chipset.

Recently, the company integrated a voice-processing function to Snapdragon 800 chip, thereby supporting voice command to get activated without pressing a button. Moreover, it has also included a quick charging facility to its new processor, thereby enabling a 75% faster charging option to tablets.

However, other key features like 2.3 GHz clock speed, better battery back up, New IZat location technology, Ultra HD video recordings, display support and third generation 4G LTE modem with 150 Mbps data speed support remains the same.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor, which was launched in early 2013 supports 4G LTE technology, which mainly caters to premium smartphones category, delivering 2.3 GHz clock speed and better battery back up. It is powered with new quad core Krait 400 CPU, Adreno 330 GPU, Hexagon v5 DSP, hence offering 75% improved performance than its earlier Snapdragon S4 Pro processors.

Snapdragon 800 chipset is also combined with New IZat location technology, thus allowing users a perfect navigation system. Apart from supporting Ultra HD video recordings and display, it also supports third generation 4G LTE modem with 150 Mbps data speed.

Qualcomm also launched another advanced S4 chip called Snapdragon 600 processor, powered with Krait 300 quad-core CPU with a clock speed of 1.9 GHz, thereby offering 40% improved performance than the S4 Pro processor.

Both these processors were distributed as samples but are expected to be commercially available from the second half of 2013; Qualcomm has already gained 55 design wins, where the new processors will be used.

Hence, we believe that the launch of these advanced processors will help the company to compete in a better way with its close rival NVIDIA Corporation’s (NVDA - Analyst Report) popular Tegra 3 and Tegra 4 processors, which supports better graphics in smartphones and tablets.

According to the latest report presented by Gartner on worldwide semiconductor industry, Qualcomm holds third place, with 4.4% market share just behind the market leader Intel Corporation (INTC - Analyst Report) and Samsung Electronics. As per the report, except for two chipset manufacturers, Qualcomm and Broadcom Corp. (BRCM - Analyst Report), other semiconductor vendors declared fall in revenue in 2012.

In the recently concluded quarter, Qualcomm shipped around 182 million CDMA-based MSM chipsets, up 17% year over year. This figure was far better than the company’s guidance of a mid-point of 173 million. Average selling price of mobile handset with an in-build Qualcomm chipset during this quarter was around $224-$230.

So, with the availability of Snapdragon 800 and 600 processors, Qualcomm has not only raised its revenue and non-GAAP EPS guidance for full fiscal 2013but is also expected to retain its third spot.

Currently, Qualcomm carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).