3G phone on a chip

Broadcom is continuing its push into the market for ARM-based mobile phone processors, with a newly shipping, sub-$25 "3G phone on a chip." Using 65nm technology, the BCM21551 combines two ARM11 cores with HSPA (high-speed packet access) modem acceleration, multiple radios, 480Mbps USB, and on-die audio/video subsystems. Broadcom expects the new BCM21551 SoC's (system-on-chip's) extremely high level of integration to enable sleek new form-factors, longer battery life, and lower-cost, 3G-capable mobile phone designs, including both high-volume feature phones and higher-end smartphones running "open" OSes such as Windows Mobile, Linux or Symbian.

The chip is Broadcom's third highly integrated ARM-based mobile phone processor, following the single-ARM11 based BCM2153 HEDGE for EDGE networks and the original BCM2820, which used an external modem. Broadcom has also in the past shown off a hardware/software reference design based on the BCM2153.