國際電子商情訊 據(jù)首屆Linley Tech Mobile Conference會(huì)議上的一個(gè)演講，芯片集成將是幫助智能手機(jī)實(shí)現(xiàn)差異化的關(guān)鍵因素。在低成本手機(jī)增長的推動(dòng)下，2014年智能手機(jī)將達(dá)到6億部。
“未來3億部智能手機(jī)需求將來自功能手機(jī)的更換，” Linley Group(美國加州芒廷維尤市)的首席分析師Linley Gwennap表示，“因此智能手機(jī)設(shè)計(jì)者面臨的壓力將是降低系統(tǒng)成本，以滿足這種對(duì)低成本智能手機(jī)日益增長的需求，而實(shí)現(xiàn)低成本的關(guān)鍵在于芯片集成?！?Linley Group公司是這次會(huì)議的組織者。
芯片集成主要是把應(yīng)用處理器與基帶處理器組合在一起。Gwennap預(yù)測(cè)，到2014年，將近70%的智能手機(jī)將采用此類“集成芯片”。
設(shè)計(jì)者努力想在新興市場(chǎng)把智能手機(jī)降價(jià)到100美元，集成芯片將是其中的關(guān)鍵。與此同時(shí)，采用分立式應(yīng)用處理器與基帶處理器方案的市場(chǎng)份額將緩慢下降到每年8000萬至1億部。
“我們完全相信，未來的多數(shù)增長將來自集成芯片，”高通的一名資深經(jīng)理Raj Talluri在會(huì)上表示，“我們對(duì)智能手機(jī)市場(chǎng)的層次進(jìn)行過分析，發(fā)現(xiàn)該市場(chǎng)50%以上屬于成本低于150美元的手機(jī)，而且這個(gè)層次正在不斷擴(kuò)大。在這個(gè)市場(chǎng)層次，其材料清單(BOM)不支持分立的應(yīng)用處理器與基帶處理器設(shè)計(jì)方案。”
LG、摩托羅拉和三星都是最大的功能手機(jī)廠商，因此最能抓住下一輪智能手機(jī)增長所帶來的機(jī)會(huì)。Gwennap表示，高通和Marvell引領(lǐng)集成式應(yīng)用與基帶處理器潮流，而博通和ST Ericsson則擁有下一代集成芯片所需的元件。
他說，高通目前的四芯片智能手機(jī)芯片組，將在2012年整合為三芯片方案，分別為數(shù)字、RF與模擬功能。不過大多數(shù)的智能手機(jī)集成芯片，可能實(shí)際上還是采用將多顆裸晶封裝在一起的方式。
本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載
［轉(zhuǎn)下一頁：四核芯片存在過熱問題］
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下一步：四核芯片存在過熱問題
在應(yīng)用處理器方面，今年雙核產(chǎn)品可說是橫掃智能手機(jī)應(yīng)用市場(chǎng)；英偉達(dá)以Tegra 2處理器引領(lǐng)潮流，該芯片已經(jīng)應(yīng)用在LG的智能手機(jī)與摩托羅拉的平板產(chǎn)品中。Gwennap預(yù)期，今年還將有其它六款來自各芯片大廠的雙核手機(jī)應(yīng)用處理器進(jìn)駐新系統(tǒng)。
英偉達(dá)在2月份展示了它的新一代四核Tegra 3，此外飛思卡爾與高通也宣布將推出類似的產(chǎn)品。
“初期的部分四核設(shè)計(jì)的發(fā)熱溫度會(huì)超出智能手機(jī)的限制，因此需要限制其運(yùn)行速度，這樣的話就達(dá)不到預(yù)期性能，”Gwennap表示，“因此，四核芯片一開始會(huì)在平板設(shè)備的應(yīng)用上比較成功，因?yàn)樵擃愊到y(tǒng)的散熱較佳?！彼f，四核芯片要到28納米制程的版本才適合智能手機(jī)應(yīng)用。
“四核本身不是問題，問題在于如何使用?！?高通的Talluri表示。他并強(qiáng)調(diào)，該公司的芯片能控制每個(gè)獨(dú)立核心的頻率?！拔覀兊乃暮颂幚砥餍酒瑫?huì)采用28納米制程，而且大部分(散熱管理)通過芯片封裝技術(shù)實(shí)現(xiàn)──堆疊記憶體或是采用硅通孔?！?
一位來自ARM的代表表示，該公司花費(fèi)不少時(shí)間開發(fā)“快速閑置(rush to idle)”技術(shù)，讓處理器芯片能快點(diǎn)完成任務(wù)然后去“睡覺”；
“當(dāng)芯片全速運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)時(shí)，還是會(huì)消耗大量功率，而這正是發(fā)生過熱問題的時(shí)候，”Gwennap 指出。
“在接下來一至兩年，英偉達(dá)與高通將在應(yīng)用處理器性能表現(xiàn)方面爭奪領(lǐng)先地位；德州儀器則幾乎從沒達(dá)到過那個(gè)境界，”Gwennap表示，“博通的目標(biāo)是較低性能的主流平板市場(chǎng)，以及多功能手機(jī)換機(jī)市場(chǎng)，并非高端市場(chǎng)，(因?yàn)?在這個(gè)市場(chǎng)你不一定非要成為性能領(lǐng)先者?！?
Gwennap表示，英特爾未來可能在智能手機(jī)市場(chǎng)找到一個(gè)雖然小但很重要的據(jù)點(diǎn)?！暗?014年，我們預(yù)期英特爾應(yīng)該能以先進(jìn)制程技術(shù)推出具有相當(dāng)競(jìng)爭力的產(chǎn)品，可能被少量的智能手機(jī)采用，但他們?cè)趧?chuàng)造軟件生態(tài)系統(tǒng)方面存在很大障礙。”他說：
移動(dòng)3D圖形芯片也在今年迅速由雙核升級(jí)至四核，不過Gwennap指出，測(cè)量移動(dòng)圖形處理器的原始性能仍是一項(xiàng)挑戰(zhàn)，他呼吁業(yè)界訂定移動(dòng)圖形芯片的性能基準(zhǔn)。
Gwennap 補(bǔ)充指出，配備新款視頻引擎的硬件，將能幫助處理兩個(gè)24幀/秒的1080p視頻流以獲得3D效果，或是60幀/秒的視頻以獲得高畫質(zhì)。他說，要在低功耗的條件下完成這樣的任務(wù)，將要求視頻引擎直接訪問系統(tǒng)內(nèi)存，不經(jīng)過主CPU。
本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載
相關(guān)閱讀：
• 中國智能手機(jī)市場(chǎng)2011年三大趨勢(shì)
• 小屏幕帶動(dòng)，2015年移動(dòng)寬帶市場(chǎng)將達(dá)1080億美金
• 智能系統(tǒng)將取代PC成為處理器消耗大戶Egzesmc
點(diǎn)擊查看英文原文：Integrated chips fuel smartphone growth
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Integrated chips fuel smartphone growth
Rick Merritt
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Silicon integration will be the key differentiator in smartphones which could grow to 600 million units in 2014, driven by expansion in low-cost handsets, according to a presentation at the inaugural Linley Tech Mobile Conference here.
"The next 300 million smartphones will come from feature phone replacements," said Linley Gwennap, principal of The Linley Group (Mountain View, Calif.), organizer of the event. "The pressure for smartphone designers will be in reducing systems cost to meet this growing demand for lower cost smartphones and silicon integration is a key," Gwennap said.
Much of the integration will come from combining application and baseband processors. By 2014 nearly 70 percent of all smartphones will use such integrated chips, up from 40 percent in 2010, Gwennap predicted.
Such chips will be key as designers try to hit prices as low as $100 for smartphones sold in emerging markets. Meanwhile, "the percentage of the market you can address with stand-alone application and baseband processors is slowly diminishing" to about 80 to 100 million units a year, Gwennap said.
"We totally believe most of the growth will come from integrated processors," said Raj Talluri, a senior Qualcomm manager at the event. "We did some analysis of the smartphone tiers and found greater than 50 percent of the market is for handsets costing less than $150--and that segment is growing.
"When you get into that class the BoM doesn't support standalone apps and modem processors," Talluri added.
LG, Motorola and Samsung are among the largest feature phone vendors and thus best positioned for the next round of smartphone growth. Qualcomm and Marvell led the move to integrated application and baseband processors and along with Broadcom and ST Ericsson own the pieces required for next-generation integrated chips, Gwennap said.
Qualcomm is shifting from a four- to a three-chip smartphone set in 2012 with separate devices for digital, RF and analog, he added. However many integrated chips may actually use multiple die in a package.
Quad-core chips too hot
In application processors, dual core is sweeping the market this year. Nvidia led the way with its Tegra 2 processor already shipping in LG smartphones and Motorola tablets. A half a dozen other dual-core mobile processors from all the leading chip makers will ship in systems this year, Gwennap predicted.
In February Nvidia demonstrated its next generation, the quad-core Tegra 3. Freescale and Qualcomm have announced similar products on the horizon.
"Some of the initial quad-core designs will exceed the thermal limits of what you can do in a smartphone, so you will need to throttle them back and then you won't get the performance you expect," Gwennap said. "Thus quad-cores will be more successful in tablets initially because of their better heat dissipation" until 28nm versions for smartphones are available, he said.
"Quad core itself is not a problem, it's how you use the cores," said Talluri of Qualcomm, noting frequency can be controlled on individual cores on his chips. "Our quad core will be 28nm, and a lot of [thermal management] is in packaging technology--where you stack memory and whether use through silicon vias," he added.
An ARM representative said the company spends a lot of time enabling a "rush to idle" so chips can process a job fast and go back to sleep.
"You still dissipate a lot of power when you run at full speed, and that’s when you run into the thermal issue," Gwennap said.
"Over the next year or two, Nvidia and Qualcomm will duel over the performance lead in apps processors, and TI never quite gets there," said Gwennap. "Broadcom is aiming for lower performance mainstream tablets and feature phone replacements rather than the high-end luxury market [because] you don’t have to be the performance leader to make it in this market," he said.
Intel is likely to find a small but significant foothold in smartphones over time, Gwennap said.
"By 2014, we expect Intel to have pretty competitive products on aggressive process technologies that may be enough to get them in a small number of phones but there are big barriers for them in creating a software ecosystem," he said.
Mobile 3-D graphics are also on a tear moving from dual-core chips this year to quad-core versions soon. However, measuring raw mobile graphics performance remains a challenge, said Gwennap, calling for a mobile graphics benchmark.
The hardware along with new video engines will help process either two 1080-progressive video streams at 24 frames/second for stereo 3-D or 60 frames/s video for picture quality. To handle the load at low power rates will require video engines access system memory directly without going through a host CPU, he said.
