NVIDIA are set to enter the mobile processor market with their new APX 2500 series, designed as a standalone application CPU with a strong bias toward multimedia and internet access.  The company, better known as a graphics manufacturer, used the fledgling work of earlier acquisition PortalPlayer, putting together a team of six-hundred engineers to create the AMD11-based 750MHz chip.  NVIDIA boast that the APX 2500 is capable of encoding and decoding 720p HD video.

In addition, NVIDIA’s own graphics expertise was added to the chip, in the form of its low-power GeForce line; that means the application processor can do double-duty for 3D GUI rendering.  They’re advertising it as the quickest way to create a Windows Mobile powered smartphone, having consulted Microsoft extensively throughout the development cycle.

The APX 2500 can support displays up to SXGA (1280 x 1024) resolution and cameras up to 12-megapixels; outputs include composite and S-Video.  NVIDIA claim to have a number of manufacturers on-board with the chip, although would not disclose who; they will also aim it at standalone GPS and PMP manufacturers.