While Nvidia hasn't officially announced the processor yet, the Tegra 3's impending launch is almost certain, according to Softpedia. The new chip is expected to have four cores inside, and will probably roll out at the upcoming Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on February 14.
Without revealing any dates, Nvidia's general manager of Tegra Mike Rayfield confirmed the Tegra 3's launch in an interview with Hexus,
"I'm going to come pretty close to my cadence of a launch every year," said Rayfield. "It will be in production around the same time as my competitors' first dual-cores will."
Given that the Tegra 2 was launched at CES last year, Tegra 3's launch is due any time now.
Just as the Tegra 2 chip boosts the performance of tablets such as the Motorola Xoom and the first dual-core smartphone, the LG Optimus 2x, and many others we saw at CES 2011, the Tegra 3 is said to have four cores, which can further speed up browsing and gaming on tablets and smartphones. In addition, multiple cores can run at half speed to accomplish the same tasks that a single core would need to run at full speed, enhancing battery efficiency and generating less heat.
Clearly, multicore smartphones have arrived, with quad-core chips probably waiting in the wings. Ovum analyst Nick Dillon told Morningstar: