Qualcomm chief executive Dr Paul Jacobs used company's Innovation Qualcomm (IQ) event in London to confirm that the firm was working on a 1.5 GHz processor that would power the future smartphones and tablets.

In a Q&A session, Jacobs said that the company was sampling the chip. He added that the company was sampling MSM8260, clocked at 1.2GHz, and it would be ready for mass production in the first half of 2011, while the 1.5GHz QSD8672 would appear in devices during the second half of 2011.

Confirming the upcoming chip, Jacobs said, "We have a 1.5Ghz processor coming.”

The company claimed that the upcoming chips would help smartphone and tablet-manufacturers offers fast devices in future.

Qualcomm has already confirmed that it has more than 1 billion 3G subscribers, and Mr. Jacobs claimed that they would add more than 23 million subscribers to 3G in a range of diverse devices per month.

The company also announced augmented reality technology, whereby virtual objects are overlaid onto a view of the world using a phone's camera, letting users to interact with them.

Other technologies announced by the company included a new screen technology called Mirasol, which depends on reflected light and thus consumes much less power than the back-lit displays that are prevalent in current smartphones.