Dual-core CPUs and LTE coming to Windows Phone in the future

Windows Phone just recently reached a major milestone with the 7.5 update, commonly known as Mango, by adding multitasking and other big improvements to the OS. Check out what we thought of it here. Anyway, now there are two other major milestones in the works too - dual-core CPUs and LTE connectivity.

Andy Lees, head of the Windows Phone division, spoke to AllThingsD giving some detail on Microsoft's plans for Windows Phone. He thinks they're in a good position to take the role of the third player in the mobile OS world as an alternative to Android and iOS, with Mango helping to boost sales volumes.

As for dual-core CPUs, those are something that's being worked on but Lees didn’t give a time frame for when they might make it to market. Current top end WP phones run on 1.5GHz single-core CPUs and Lees thinks they'll stack up well enough against dual-core smartphones.

Microsoft wanted to wait until the software can make good use of the extra core. Seeing how Windows Phone only recently got multitasking support and not all apps support it yet, it will be a while until the OS is ready for two cores.

The decision not to include 4G for now was made because early generation LTE chipsets are quite power hungry. The technology will be included in future devices, when it's ready - but again, Lees gave no dates for when that will happen.

Microsoft is already looking forward to the next major update for the OS, but whether there will be a minor update first (like NoDo hit before Mango) hasn’t been decided yet.

Lees also commented on the patent-licensing deal between Microsoft and Samsung, saying that part of the deal includes stronger support for Windows Phone from Samsung. He likened the Samsung deal to the Nokia one, but allowed that it's "not quite as deep a dependence".