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Image Credit: sciondriver

Qualcomm is best known for making ARM-based chips that end up in smartphones. But the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor also powers smartbooks like the Compaq Airlife 100 and the possibly ill-fated Lenovo Skylight. It also powers the Dell Streak tablet. Today Qualcomm introduced two new chips that could make the Snapdragon platform a lot more attractive to netbook, smartbook, and tablet makers.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8260 and MSM8660 processors are both dual core 1.2GFHz chips with support for 1080p HD video playback and encoding, 2D and 3D graphics acceleration, and Open GLES 2.0 and Open VG 1.1 support.The chips can handle displays with resolutions up to 1280 x 800 pixels.

Both chips also support GPS. In fact,t he only real difference between the MSM8260 and MSM8660 is that the first is features HSPA+ connectivity, while the latter is a multi-mode chip with support for EV-DO, CDMA, and HSPA+.

Qualcomm also plans to launch a 1.5GHz dual core Snapdragon chip down the road. That one will have the catchy moniker of QSD8672.