Mozilla and Spreadtrum Communications announced on February 23 that they have teamed up to deliver turnkey Firefox OS reference designs with Spreadtrum's entry-level smartphone chipsets.

　　Spreadtrum and Mozilla have now completed the integration of Firefox OS with several of Spreadtrum's WCDMA and EDGE smartphone chipsets, including the SC6821 just unveiled by Spreadtrum. These smartphones are available for demos at Mozilla's booth at Mobile World Congress 2014 in Barcelona.

　　The SC6821, unveiled by Spreadtrum at Mobile World Congress, is designed with a low memory configuration and high level of integration that reduces the total bill of materials required to develop low-end smartphones. With this chipset, handset makers will be able to bring to market smartphones with 3.5-inch HVGA touchscreens, integrated Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, FM and camera functions, the phone and browser features of Firefox OS, and access to a rich ecosystem of Web and HTML5 applications.

　　"The combination of Firefox OS with Spreadtrum's entry-level smartphone platforms has the potential to dramatically extend the reach of smartphones and the Web globally," said Li Gong, senior VP of mobile devices and president of Asia operations for Mozilla. "Firefox OS delivers a customized, fun and intuitive experience for first-time smartphone buyers and our collaboration with Spreadtrum enables the industry to offer customers an extremely affordable way to get a smartphone and connect with Web apps."

　　"By integrating Firefox OS support with our smartphone platforms, we are providing our customers with flexibility and choice in how they develop and design their smartphones as well as access to the increasingly rich base of HTML5 applications that are available on this platform," said Xiaomao Xiao, Spreadtrum's VP of software development.

　　Spreadtrum and Mozilla have completed the integration of Firefox OS with Spreadtrum's SC6821 and SC7710 WCDMA smartphone chipsets, and expect to complete a turnkey reference design for the SC7715, Spreadtrum's single-core WCDMA smartphone chipset with integrated connectivity, in March. Spreadtrum and Mozilla's collaboration will extend across Spreadtrum's full chipset portfolio.

　　"Turnkey solutions benefit the vast majority of small handset makers by reducing the time and cost involved in bringing new devices to market," said Stuart Robinson, analyst at Strategy Analytics. "This joint effort between Spreadtrum and Mozilla will help make Firefox OS more readily available to handset makers that focus on the needs of entry-level smartphone buyers in emerging markets."