Broadcom (News - Alert) Corporation, a semiconductor solutions provider for wired and wireless communications, has introduced a new quad-core HSPA+ processor designed to bring high performance to entry-level smartphones. This platform, the BCM23550, is also optimized specifically for Android (News - Alert) 4.2 Jelly Bean, which features Google's Project Butter performance enhancements. As such, this new processor is a huge development for the low-end smartphone market.

This processor is also an extremely smart move for Broadcom as low-cost smartphone shipments are expected to explode in growth over the next five years, from 259 million in 2013 to 788 million in 2018, according to ABI Research. This growth is largely driven by consumer demand for full smartphone performance at a low price point.

Unfortunately, in the case of Android, this typically means poor specs and performance, and Android 2.3 Gingerbread — a practically ancient OS by smartphone standards. Fortunately, it seems products and solutions like Broadcom's BCM23550 are changing this.

Indeed, the BCM23550 sports a turnkey design, is powered by a quad-core processor clocked at 1.2GHz, along with VideoCore multimedia processing. Add in an integrated HSPA+ cellular baseband, and this mobile platform offers power efficiency and performance not often seen in the low-cost smartphone market.

"Broadcom's new quad-core solution allows OEMs to deliver the multi-tasking, graphics-rich capabilities required in today's smartphones, while still appealing to consumers seeking superior performance at affordable prices," said Rafael Sotomayor, Broadcom vice president of Product Marketing and Mobile Platform Solutions. "By combining the performance benefits of a quad-core solution with high-end features like 5G Wi-Fi, globally certified NFC technology, and advanced indoor positioning technology, the platform offers device manufacturers a flexible and cost-effective path to address the affordable smartphone segment."

The BCM23550 boasts a number of features typically exclusive to higher-end devices, such as "dual HD" capability, which allows users to simultaneously share HD content from their mobile device to any Miracast-enabled display. Meanwhile, an integrated Image Signal Processor (News - Alert) (ISP) supports up to 12-megapixel sensors as well as advanced imaging capabilities.