Microsoft: Windows Phones will get sexier dual-core chips and LTE

The latest Android and iPhone phones are sporting sexy dual-core chips that promise to amp up performance, but Microsoft is saying that devices running its new Windows Phone Mango operating system will be sticking to single-core CPUs for now. Microsoft does eventually plan to deliver dual-core devices, though, as well as those sporting fast LTE 4G support, reports All Things Digital.

And the single-core CPUs don’t mean the new crop of Windows Phones will be slouches. “…I suspect that they will be faster in usage than any dual-core phone that you put against it, and that’s the point,” Windows Phone head Andy Lees said in an interview with All Things Digital. He added that Microsoft is waiting to make sure its software is ready to take advantage of multiple cores.

By relying on single-core CPUs for its next batch of phones, Microsoft’s platform is well behind Android, which has been including dual-core CPUs since earlier this year, and the upcoming iPhone 4S, which sports Apple’s dual-core A5 chip. While chip cores aren’t something most consumers will notice, the lack of decent dual-core solutions gives device enthusiasts yet another reason to look down on Windows Phone.

Lees said that the company is hoping to build volume and market share with its upcoming Windows Phone Mango devices. Microsoft started offering the Mango update, also known as Windows Phone 7.5, to existing customers two weeks ago.

As for LTE, Lees said Microsoft and its hardware partners are waiting for LTE solutions that are less power-hungry. He declined to say whether we’ll see the first LTE phones this year or next.

Speaking about Microsoft’s recent cross-licensing deal with Samsung, Lees said we’ll begin to see signs of that partnership next year. “I think that the agreement that we have with Nokia, it’s obviously a particularly special one, they’re exclusive to us, and we have a very, very deep partnership, and I think that Samsung is not quite as deep a dependence as the Nokia one, but it’s certainly in that vein,” he said.

To entice more customers to adopt Windows Phone, manufacturers will be stepping up their marketing and sales incentives, Bloomberg reports. Both Samsung and HTC will be increasing their marketing budgets, Lees said.

While dual-core and LTE Windows Phones are way off, Nokia reiterated last week that it plans to launch its flagship Windows Phones this quarter.