It’s "game on" in the race for high-performance mobile devices. With smart phones quickly evolving into "superphones", these cutting-edge devices are leading the GHz race. And these devices will be a hub for consumers, enabling constant access to content and services. The traffic load that these phones will handle will significantly up the ante on the power/performance curve. In fact, I just read that time spent on mobile apps has surpassed web browsing – which really highlights how the central the smart phone has become.

With more functionality packed into a single device, it’s becoming increasingly challenging for system-on-chip (SoC) designs to keep up with exploding bandwidth, advanced integrated functionality and low-power constraints. This dilemma is enough to test any designer’s creativity! Luckily, consumers have become the beneficiaries of the growing mobile chip market enabling faster phones and better mobile devices.