It seems like nearly every Android phone that gets announced these days comes with a Snapdragon processor running at a blazing fast 1GHz speed. After last year’s 528MHz becoming the norm, the current benchmark is considerably faster. But what about later this year? What can we expect in the next generation of Android phones? Dual-core Snapdragons, that’s what.

Qualcomm is now shipping their first dual-core Snapdragon processors, the MSM8260 and MSM8660. Designed for high-end smartphones, these chips are capable of running at up to 1.2GHz. The MSM8260 provides support for HSPA+ whereas the MSM8660 adds support for multi-mode HSPA+ and 1xEV-DO Rev. B. According to Engadget, both processors have GPS, a GPU with 2D / 3D acceleration engines for Open GL ES 2.0 and Open VG 1.1, 1080p video encoding and decoding, a dedicated low-power audio engine, and support for 24-bit WXGA 1,280 x 800 pixel displays. Engadget was told that an even quicker version of the Snapdragon would be out by the end of the year and aimed at tablets and other “larger screen” devices.

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