As smartphones become an increasingly integral part of our lives, the pressure to boost their processing power is constantly building. One of the most talked-about mobile processors, NVIDIA’s Tegra SoC (System on a Chip), is already doing the heavy lifting for the Zune HD, but not much else, and many expected the chipset to be included on the spec sheets of upcoming smartphones months ago. 

None have surfaced.

So it may be the second generation Tegra that makes the first significant appearance in smartphones.  NVIDIA’s Senior Vice President of Investor Relations and Communications, Mike Hara, recently teased that the next version of the Tegra SoC will begin showing up in phones in the second half of 2010, just in time for Windows Mobile 7 (assuming the OS is not delayed until 2015).

“At CES we are going to make a major announcement about Tegra family. It is highly possible that we will see some very interesting form-factors coming out at the same time. [There will be products] shown by our partners using the next-generation Tegra device. You are going to see roll-outs and deployments of tablet PCs, smartbooks, netbooks, MIDs throughout the first half [of the year]; and then you will see major roll-outs of smartphones in the second half…”

There were no further details about Tegra 2 or what manufacturers are planning to employ it.  The 40nm, low-power chipset will likely be significantly faster and include more multimedia goodies. 

As for specifics, we’ll just have to wait for CES.

via SlashGear