Nvidia rolls out its 4G LTE play to combat Qualcomm

Summary: The aim for Nvidia is to pitch one processor to operate smartphone functions and bring "superphone" capabilities everywhere.

Nvidia launched its 4G LTE processor dubbed Tegra 4i and plans to battle Qualcomm with a smaller footprint and more speed.

In a statement, Nvidia outlined its LTE line-up, which is critical given Qualcomm has an LTE lead. Nvidia's Tegra 4i, known under the Project Grey codename, has 60 cores, a quad-core CPU with ARM's R4 Cortex-A9 and an integrated modem and better battery life.

The aim for Nvidia is to pitch one processor to operate smartphone functions and bring "superphone" capabilities everywhere. The Tegra 4i was designed by Nvidia and ARM.

In a blog post, Nvidia said the Tegra 4i chip was also the result of the Icera acquisition 20 months ago.

Among the key points:

• Tegra 4i has the same architecture as the Tegra 4;
• The processor has five times the cores of Tegra 3;
• Nvidia introduced a reference design for Tegra 4i;
• The company's wares will be demonstrated at the Mobile World Congress the last week of February.