14 DAY TRIAL // The Nvidia Tegra 2 system-on-a-chip is expected to become the “reference design” for the upcoming Android 3.0 Honeycomb mobile operating system, as it would power both tablet PCs and smartphoens based on this platform version. Citigroup’s Glen Yeung was the one to point at a possible standardization of Nvidia's second Tegra version with upcoming device based on Android, a recent article on Barrons reads.
The news does not comes too much as a surprise, since the chip was already said to be on track to become the most used hardware solution in 2011's tablet PCs, especially with many of these rumored to be based on Android.
And since Google should bring to shelves a new version of its mobile platform next year, the Honeycomb flavor, which would be optimized for tablet PCs, Tegra 2 and Android might become next year's couple.
However, tablet PCs won't be the only type of devices that Tegra 2 would power, though they would certainly be predominant on the market during the next year, it seems.
Interestingly enough, it seems that one of the largest customers Nvidia would have for the silicon would be Samsung, which reportedly placed a large order with the graphics cards designer.
According to Glen Yeung, Samsung might have placed an order for Tegra chips that would worth somewhere around $250 million to $350 million, more than previous estimations on the revenue generated by Tegra.
Previous rumors on the matter also suggested that Samsung might plan packing the Tegra 2 solution both with its upcoming Tablet PCs, as well as with the future smartphones that it might release with Google's Android operating system on board.
We should also mention that the first smartphone to pair a Tegra 2 chip and Google's Android operating system was already announced officially, namely the LG Optimus 2X, previously spotted into the wild as LG Star.
Other makers would also adopt the chipset with their future devices, but LG seems to have been the first one to make the move, with the said launch of LG Optimus 2X.
In all fairness, the handset won't land on shelves until next year, and would run under the Android 2.2 Froyo OS when available, but it should receive an upgrade to the next Android version as well.