Renesas targets new communication processor at lower cost LTE smartphones

The Renesas Mobile MP5232 LTE Smartphone Platform

Renesas Mobile Corporation, a Renesas Electronics Corporation subsidiary formed in late 2010 from the company's Mobile Multimedia SoC Business Division and Nokia's wireless modem business, has announced the MP5232 combination 4G/3G modem and application processor SoC targeting lower cost LTE smartphones.

According to Carsten Wild, Director of Marketing for Mobile Platforms at Renesas Mobile, the baseband processor in the MP5232 supports all Category 4 (150Mbps download, 50 Mbps upload) FD-LTE Bands from the major wireless operators, along with dual carrier HSPA+. Wild says that support for TD-LTE will be added in the future. David McTernan, Director of Strategic Marketing and Communications at Renesas Mobile, says that the company was able to quickly develop the combination LTE modem and application processor based on its experience from developing the SP2531 triple-mode (4G/3G/2G) modem, and the MP5225 application processor. McTernan said that the MP5225 was used in an Android smartphone recently introduced by Kyocera (in Japan). 

Renesas Mobile is manufacturing the MP5232 in a 28nm process,  and is planning to have a reference platform supporting Android Ice Cream Sandwich available by the end of Q1.  The MP5232 application processor employs dual ARM Cortex-A9 cores, with a SGX graphics processor, which Renesas Mobile licenses from Imagination Technologies. Renesas is planning full production of the MP5232 by year end 2012.