In-Stat Research Predicts Multi-Core CPUs in 88% of Mobile Platforms by 2013

According to a detailed research by In-Stat, single-core processors will become obsolete by 2013 even in handheld computing devices such as smartphones, CE (consumer electronics) devices and MIDs. With notebooks being, currently, the only mobile devices based on multi-core processors (with a few exceptions), multi-core chips, regardless of origin or manufacturer, are set to achieve widespread adoption in all mobile configurations by 2013.

Multi-core processors are currently used in high-end computing configurations. Dual-core netbooks have already begun to emerge, with examples being the ASUS Eee PC 1201N and the upcoming ASUS Eee PC 1201T. With the advent of multi-core netbooks already upon us, ultra-mobile personal computers (UMPCs), MIDs (multimedia Internet devices) and consumer electronics devices (CE) will likely follow suite.

The research is titled “Mobile Processor Review: The Battle for the Next Generation Consumer Devices” and covers the worldwide markets of merchant CPUs, application processors and baseband processors. The expected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is of 22.3% for merchant processors, with 775 million units expected to sell by 2013.

The research also deals with the TAM mobile-processor forecasts and examines the competing architectures and integration trends of the functionality provided by multiple cores, graphics, I/O, and baseband. The analyzed processor and vendor profiles are those of Anyka, AMD, Broadcom, Chipnuts, Freescale, Intel, Jade Chip, Marvell, MtekVision, NVIDIA, Pollux, Qualcomm, Renesas, Samsung, Texas Instruments, VIA Technologies, and Vimicro.

Multi-core units are already common for the x86 architecture and the ARM architecture will likely cross over to multi-core designs soon. This leads to estimations that imply that, by 2013, sold multi-core processors will make up about 88% of all mobile-processor sales. The predicted developments are the widespread adoption of multi-core chips in netbooks, starting with 2010, followed by MID devices in 2011 and consumer electronics by 2012-2013. This transition will likely be accompanied by the integration of multimedia acceleration into such products.

“Integration of graphics/multimedia acceleration is a key trend as well,” Jim McGregor, In-Stat analyst, says. “While multi-core dominates in the high performance mobile computing segments, integration of graphics/multimedia acceleration favors the smartphone, MID/UMPC and mobile entertainment device segment.”

More information on the research may be found online on the In-Stat website. For those interested in purchasing the product, its price is of US$3,995.