We haven’t heard much of SiRFstar in a while, the company that makes GPS chips. Smartphone manufacturers like HTC are moving away from dedicated GPS chipsets in favor of combination chips, like those manufactured by Qualcomm, that provide GPS and cellular voice and data in a package (some chips even handle processing power and other functions as well). The latter category saves space, which is a limited resource on diminutive smartphones, allows for AGPS cellular triangulation for faster GPS acquisition times, and reduces power constraints. In order to compete, SiRF is introducing a SiRFstar IV chipset to save power and at the same time provide for near instantaneous acquisition times.

The next generation SiRF chip will enter in a near sleep state when not in use to preserve energy consumption, unlike the current generation chips which powers up completely. The benefit here is that the acquisition for satellites will happen a lot more quickly going from a sleep state rather than a cold start, allowing SiRF to provide accurate GPS reception and helping standalone GPS makers the ability to compete with smartphone-based AGPS technology, which uses cellular triangulation to find satellites quicker.

(via: Electronista)