Will Nokia’s upcoming Windows Phones feature dual-core ST-Ericsson U8500? Yes, Most likely, said STMicroelectronics’ CEO Carlo Bozotti in a rather confusing interview with Forbes. He confirmed that the company iis still maintaining “very close relations” with Nokia even after the Microsoft – Nokia deal went public. He further adds that STMicroelectronic will be “an important supplier” for Nokia’s Windows Phone 8 (really?) phones. And this is where one gets confused. He claims that Nokia will ship 12 Windows Phone 8 devices next year and the dual-core ST-Ericsson U8500 system-on-a-chip (SoC) will feature in some of the phones. The current version of Microsoft’s mobile OS Windows Phone 7 debuted in November 2010 and we are sure there won’t be Windows Phone 8 until mid-2012. This year’ WP only-major release is going to be the Windows Phone 7.5 Mango update which is expected in the second half of 2011. Microsoft has strict rules that the current manufacturers making Windows Phone 7 devices should use only Qualcomm SoC as it wants to provide uniform experience to users on all the Windows Phone 7 devices and this will apply to WP 7.5 as well. So considering the fact that even when the current WP7 phones from Nokia may not even come out in 2011 (and which will be powered by Qualcomm SoC), he is certainly only ‘hoping’ that the future Nokia Windows phones (which will only be manufactured at least a year from now) will feature the dual-core U8500 chip.
Just few hours after the Forbe’s article was published, Nokia has released an official statement saying that “The first Nokias based on Windows Phone will have the Qualcomm chipset,”. Nokia has also added that the company was in talks with chipset suppliers for their products and that the ST-Ericsson was one of them. So it could be that Bozotti went too far ahead while making statements. Anyway we’ll keep a close eye on the Microsoft’s Windows Phone event on May 24th to get more updates about Nokia’s WP phones.