In a move that is expected to help Nokia reduce the entry level price point of Windows Phone devices, Nokia has inked a deal with ST-Ericsson for chipsets of its future Windows Phone 7 based smartphones.
Earlier Qualcomm was the sole supplier of Chipset solutions to all Windows Phone 7 based devices. Given the fact that Nokia is expected to be the biggest vendor of Windows Phone devices, and with it joining the WP7 bandwagon, the OS market share is expected to go up and in this scenario just one chipset supplier was untenable.
In a statement, ST-Ericsson said the deal will allow “Nokia to extend Windows Phone devices to new price points and geographies”. The press release did not elaborate much on the deal.
It’s unclear how soon ST-Ericsson chips will find their way into Nokia’s Windows Phone devices, or how much business ST-Ericsson will win from Qualcomm.
“As Windows Phone grows in popularity, it is natural to expect that they would diversify their number of suppliers,” Qualcomm said in a statement to FierceWireless. “This has no impact on our commitment to Nokia and Microsoft and we look forward to continuing to work with all Windows Phone OEMs to deliver the best possible experiences on Windows Phone and Windows 8.”