Broadcom intros quad-combo, fast single-card wireless chipsets that put NFC at center stage
Broadcom wants NFC to flow like water, to the point where we can pair speakers and share content between phones like it's no big deal. Accordingly, it's launching two wireless chipsets that should sate both the mobile masses as well as performance lovers. The BCM43341 is reportedly the first to put official NFC support side-by-side with 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 and FM radio in a single chip, taking a long stride towards smaller, cheaper phones with NFC tucked inside. We'll admit that we're drawn more to the speed demon of the pair: a new single-card design combines a separate NFC chip with a 433Mbps implementation of 802.11ac WiFi, raising the prospect of some very fast device-to-device Miracast and WiFi Direct connections in more advanced phones and tablets. Both parts should go into full production in the first quarter of 2013, which gives us enough time to prepare for Broadcom's vision of a tap-to-send future.
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Broadcom Launches Industry's First Certified Quad-combo Wireless Connectivity Chip
Ignites NFC Adoption in Smartphones and Consumer Electronics Devices
IRVINE, Calif. – December 11, 2012
News Highlights:
* Industry's first quad-combo chip to integrate proven NFC, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and FM radio technologies
* New portfolio to inspire a range of new applications for simplified device pairing and growing mobile retail payments
* Broadcom to gain traction in NFC-enabled smartphone market that is expected to reach 1.1 billion devices in circulation over the next four years
Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM), a global innovation leader in semiconductor solutions for wired and wireless communications, today introduced two new Near Field Communication (NFC) solutions to be showcased at the upcoming 2013 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The company announced the industry's first quad-combo to integrate certified NFC, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and FM onto a single chip. Broadcom also announced a single card solution combining its 5G WiFi combo chip with its industry-leading standalone NFC. For more news, visit Broadcom's Newsroom.
The market for NFC in smartphones is expected to quadruple over the next three years. This expansion will inspire NFC adoption in broader consumer electronics devices like game controllers, TVs and remotes, computer keyboards and mice, headsets, printers and more. For example, NFC will allow consumers to instantly show video taken from a smartphone on a smart TV by tapping the devices together. It will also enable consumers to seamlessly and securely tap-to-print and tap-to-share data like a music playlist or a business card. Additionally, the mobile payment market presents massive opportunity for mainstream adoption with $4.2 billion transactions completed in 2012, a number expected to reach $100 billion in 20163.
Quad-combo Chip Product Highlights
As Broadcom's sixth generation combo chip, the BCM43341 offers OEMs unmatched size, power and cost advantages. The quad-combo chip also provides a flexible interface with multiple secure elements to ensure all payment business models are supported for today's market. Additionally, Broadcom's standards-based software stack implements NFC Forum specifications, including NFC Controller interface (NCI), to support multiple operating systems. As a testament to its certified solutions, Broadcom recently contributed its NFC software stack into the Android 4.2 operating system.
* Integration of NFC, WLAN, Bluetooth 4.0, FM radio and wireless coexistence on a single chip for reduced radio interference and simplified connectivity
* 40nm complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) process with improvements in size and power consumption
* Supports dual-band (2.4GHz and 5GHz) WLAN including support for HT40 (high throughput 40MHz rates)
* Integrated WLAN/BT PA, LNA and TR switch to reduce total area and bill of materials (BOM) costs
* Integrated support for Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Certified Miracast and Wi-Fi Certified Passpoint technologies
* Designed for low-cost printed circuit board (PCB) chip-on-board applications
* Field power harvesting capability to enable device to support NFC transactions even if battery has expired
Single Card Solution Product Highlights
While the quad-combo will drive adoption in mass market devices, the single solution on a card integrates the industry's first 5G WiFi combo chip with the BCM20793 NFC chip, raising the performance bar for high-end smartphones and tablets. The single solution on a card joins tap-to-pair functionality and ease-of-use of NFC with speed, coverage and performance benefits of 5G WiFi to create the ideal platform for highly-mobile devices. For example, high throughput, high-definition video transfers using 5G WiFi will be significantly enhanced with NFC's simplified functionality.
* Integration of industry's first 5G WiFi combo chip and mass market, payment-certified NFC standalone chip on a single card
* WLAN PHY rates of 433 Mb/s to increase wireless throughput compared to previous generations
* Broadcom TurboQAM™ technology including highest data-rate 256-QAM mode in 2.4 GHz to deliver 10 percent faster throughputs than 802.11n speeds
* Integrated support for Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Certified Miracast and Wi-Fi Certified Passpoint technologies
* Optimized bill-of-material (BOM) and printed circuit board (PCB) or module layout design
Availability
Broadcom's quad-combo chip and single card solution are now sampling with early access customers, with full production expected in Q1 2013.
