Samsung ships 3G phones with Broadcom chips

By Colleen Taylor, Contributing Editor -- Electronic News, 10/8/2007

In a decisive step toward the future of 3G technology, communications chip maker Broadcom Corp. announced today that Samsung Electronics has included Broadcom's 3G cellular solutions for a new series of Samsung mobile handsets that are now available.

This does not mark the first collaboration between the two companies: Broadcom launched its first generation 3G cellular baseband technology with Samsung over a year ago with the SGH-Z220. The companies said today that the new Samsung 3G mobile phones are now shipping to leading cellular operators in multiple countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and elsewhere.

Samsung's new SGH-J750 and SGH-A401 3G phones include the BCM2133 EDGE baseband processor, the BCM2141 WCDMA co-processor, the BCM2045 Bluetooth transceiver and the BCM59001 power management unit (PMU). The phones boast Web-surfing abilities, camera support, video download and playback, and stereo MP3 player capabilities, along with better battery performance, the companies said.  More Broadcom/Samsung 3G products are set to debut for sales in Christmas season 2007, the companies said.

"Broadcom is a capable and valued partner for Samsung and as the 3G market grows very rapidly, we expect that our relationship will become more successful in the future," JK Shin, executive VP of Samsung's telecommunications network business, said in a statement. "These new handsets demonstrate the close collaboration of our companies in bringing affordable and exciting 3G mobile devices to market, and highlight our confidence in Broadcom cellular technology."

The companies partially have a U.S. district court to thank for the debut of the new phones. In February, a court ruling cleared the way for Samsung to continue using Broadcom's chips in 3G WCDMA-based handsets without the threat of patent infringement claims by rival chipmaker Qualcomm Inc.