Chip makers aim for £11 mobiles by 2007

Horst Pratsch, vice-president for Entry Platforms at German chip maker Infineon said that the major phone vendors seem reluctant to make mobiles cheaper.

He said that this was because they have to use cheap parts and the lower quality may hurt their brand image.

The way around this is for chip makers to integrate the key functions of a mobile phone into a single chip which will cost a couple of quid to build. This will reduce the number of working parts required on a phone from 150 used now to just 50.

The plan is also backed by Philips which estimates that by 2008 when it can supply phone vendors with a design which enables handset production below $15.

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