MWC 2012: Huawei Rumoured To Unveil Quad-Core Smartphone

Speculation has arisen that Chinese phone maker Huawei will unveil a quad-core phone at this year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC), following a leak by a company executive on social networking site Sina Weibo.

According to Japanese Blog of Mobile, the blog said the Ascend D1 Q smartphone will be the first of Huawei’s top-end “Diamond” series and will feature a quad-core processor (both supposedly indicated by the ‘D’ and ‘Q’ initials).

Quad-core questions

The leak was made on the profile page of Yu Chengdong, Huawei’s senior vice president, and provided no other details other than the expected reveal at MWC in Barcelona.

Should the phone be from Huawei’s ‘Diamond’ series, however, the specifications would lean towards high speeds, as suggested by the quad-core rumour. Huawei currently offers the Ascend P1 S (part of the ‘Platinum’ series), with a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, so a quad-core would be the likely upgrade.

Other questions persist about whether or not the Ascend D1 Q will use Nvidia’s Tegra 3 processor or whether the Chinese company has manufactured its own rival. Nvidia is already expected to reveal its first Tegra 3 quad-core powered phone, according to an invitation sent out for 26 February which reads: “Nvidia quad-core firsts continue at MWC”.

Based on an Inquirer translation of a message on Chengdong’s Weibo page, there is a suggestion that Huawei will be using Nvidia’s processor, though there is no clear confirmation from either party.

Also mentioned in the leak is the introduction of a new Huawei tablet, the MediaPad 10, which would be a follow-up to the company’s original Honeycomb tablet.