MWC 2013: Nvidia Shows smartphone ‘Phoenix’

Nvidia might make your next smartphone. The Nvidia Phoenix – pictured here – is a reference phone for the time being, but the company has already shown it’s not afraid to make its own kit with Project Shield and now it could be setting its sights on the smartphone and tablet market.

Nvidia is keeping schtum about the particulars, but reckons that with its components facing tougher market conditions (the unlikely phrases ‘increasingly vertical’ and ‘commoditisation’ were used) a move to make its own smartphones and tablets will pay off in the long run.

While won’t be able to grab of these devices, be sure you you take a good look at the Phoenix, as it’s going to be a while before we see anything else like it. Nonetheless, this reference design rocks the NVIDIA Tegra 4i, which we’ve most recently seen it tearing the competition to pieces in some recently released benchmarks.

While the Phoenix itself isn’t for the end consumer, it certainly doesn’t mean that we don’t want one. The device shows off just what the NVIDIA Tegra 4 can do, and that’s good enough for us. The reference design ships with a 5 inch 1080p HD display, 13 megapixel camera, and more.

The Tegra 4 family is leaps and bounds more powerful than the NVIDIA Tegra 3, and will offer up some great native features, like always-on HDR.