ST-Ericsson’s NovaThor to power Nokia’s Windows Phone devices, loosens Qualcomm’s grip

Earlier this year, as you will recall, we learned that at the least a few of Nokia’s Windows Phone devices will be powered by a dual-core chip from ST-Ericsson. On the time, this report came as something of a surprise, because Qualcomm had long enjoyed hegemony over the Windows Phone market. Today, however, it becomes official, as Nokia has now selected ST-Ericsson’s NovaThor platform as its Windows Phone supplier. There isn’t any sign, however, that this deal would be exclusive, so it’s likely that the manufacturer will continue to take advantage of Qualcomm silicon as well as ST-Ericsson’s line of U9500, U8500, and U5500 dual-core CPUs. We even have yet to listen to any confirmation at the specific devices that these chips will power, or when they’ll go into production, though we’ll make sure you inform you once we get word. Skip past the break for a very short press release.