Samsung Reportedly Ordered Millions of Nvidia Chips for Honeycomb Tablets

Samsung is said to have ordered millions of Nvidia's Tegra line of chips for its latest 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab that will run on Android 3.0 operating system, popularly known as Honeycomb.

Korea-based Samsung has ordered about 1 to 1.5 million Tegra 2 processors from Nvidia, Digitimes reported citing sources from upstream component players.

Though, Samsung's first tablet PC, the Galaxy Tab, did not achieve the company's targeted sales of two million units, the sources pointed out that the company, which has advantages in both the telecom and retail channels, is still confident with its upcoming Galaxy Tab 10.1, which is set to launch in April.

Both Samsung and Nvidia are also planning to bring a new Android-based super phone with a dual-core chip.

In addition to Samsung, Motorola, Dell, Acer, Asustek Computer, Toshiba and Micro-Star International (MSI) are all set to launch tablet PCs that adopt Tegra 2 processor with Android 3.0 operating system.

Meanwhile, Asustek is set to launch Eee Pad Transformer EP101 and Eee Pad Slider EP102 in April and May, respectively, and said to have placed about 500,000 units of Tegra 2 orders for the first half of 2011.

Samsung launched its 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab at the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, reflecting its move from the 7-inch form factor to tackle the likes of Motorola Xoom and Apple iPad. Apart from Samsung, Motorola has also launched its 10.1 inch tablet Xoom, featuring Honeycomb OS and Nvidia's Tegra 2 chip.

Here is a comparison between Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Motorola Xoom: