ST-Ericsson Announces STw5211 Audio Chip

ST-Ericsson, the recent joint venture between STMicroelectronics and Ericsson, has announced its next-generation STw5211 mobile audio chip. If you were wondering why there is so much fuss over a simple audio chip, it’s because this new audio digital-to-analog converter (DAC) will allow manufactures to come up with music-oriented devices which will be able to squeeze out double of the standard 10-hour playback time from devices. This is due to ST-Ericsson’s combination of PTE (Playback Time Extender) processing technology with a “102dB signal-to-noise ratio through the whole audio path”. Samples of the chip should be available in April, and volume production is scheduled for August this year.