The rapid evolution of smartphones has been enabled by faster and more powerful chipsets, including Qualcomm's (NASDAQ:QCOM) Snapdragon processor, which made 1 GHz a clear benchmark for the industry. The future of smartphones, where consumers will be able to record 1080p HD video and engage in videoconferencing, will require a new breed of dual-core chips. Dual-core chips are already standard on other consumer electronics such as laptops, but they will soon become more prevalent in smartphones. Qualcomm began shipping its first dual-core processor, the MSM8660, to manufacturers, and plans to start testing a faster model later this year. Texas Instruments plans to ship its dual-core OMAP4430 chip later this year, and the chip could be running on mobile devices early next year. Article