Nvidia revealed its new quad-core Tegra 4 chip last month at CES, but other than the company’s intriguing Project SHIELD portable games console, we’re yet to see a device using it. That’s all set to change soon though, as ZTE is reported to be the first to use the super-fast chip in a smartphone.
ZTE confirmed today that it would bring not one but ‘many’ Tegra 4 super phones to market, with the first devices due to arrive around June time. This puts a marker on the general launch of the Tegra 4 chip, and so we can expect to see more devices from other manufacturers from June onwards.
Unfortunately for UK tech fans, ZTE’s first Tegra 4 launches will be taking place in China. This means that unless another manufacturer gets in on the act at around the same time, we may be waiting into the second half of the year to get our hands on the latest devices.
Last year HTC was the first company to use Nvidia’s latest chip at the time, the Tegra 3, which was used in the One X. This year the company has jumped ship to Qualcomm for its new flagship phone the HTC One, with a brand new Qualcomm 600 chip.
ZTE looks to be the only big name brand working with Nvidia to create some incredibly powerful phones for later in the year. The company became well known as a white label phone maker, selling the rights to its designs to networks such as Orange, who rebrand ZTE phones as their own. They’re now moving into the high-end market, and the promise of Tegra 4 devices is a big sign of that.