Nokia's WP7 phones to use U8500 dual-core 1.2GHz chipsets?
The CEO of ST-Ericsson got chatty in front of Forbes and said that Nokias Windows Phone 7 devices will be powered by the U8500 dual-core CPU and its successors will go on to power Windows Phone 8 phones too.
So far, Windows Phone 7 devices have been exclusively powered by Qualcomm chipsets (due to Microsofts limiting guidelines, which were revised recently). ST-Ericssons CEO however says that they will be one of two chip suppliers for Nokias WP7 phones (he didnt who the other was).
The first Nokia devices will use the dual-core U8500 chipset, which has been seen running at 1.2GHz. Things might change by the time these devices come out, but they look to be the first dual-core Windows Phone 7 handsets.
The CEO also said that over the course of 2012 Nokia will release 12 Windows Phone 7 devices that will be based on future versions of the U8500 chipset. He also believes that ST-Ericsson will be a key supplier for Windows Phone 8, yep that's 8.
The Mango update is v7.5, so Windows Phone 8 is already very likely in the works (and the rumor mill suggests that it and Windows 8 will be closely related).
The U8500 has a powerful Mali-400 GPU, the same as on the Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II.