Broadcom bungs 3G on a chip

SEMI FIRM Broadcom reckons that it's the first to market with a CMOS device which it spins as the first "3G phone on a chip".

The excitingly named BCM21551 is a 65 nanometer CMOS device which includes HSUPA 3G broadband, Bluetooth, an FM radio, and an FM transmitter. It also supports megapix camera support and TV out. It supports WCDMA and EDGE and can be paired with wi-fi and other chips.

What that means, reckons Broadcom, is that vendors will be able to build 3G HSUPA phones with a very long battery life and slimmer than ever.

It thinks that HSUPA is the best cellular modem tech with a lot of operators pumping deployment over the next few years.

Phones using this stuff can download content at 7.2 megabits a second and upload at 5.8Mbps.

The chip is already sampling and costs $23 a pop if you're buying enough of them. µ