Samsung announced yesterday in a press release their Orion Chipset, based on the ARM Cortex A9, aimed at the mobile market which looks to be destined to take on the Nvidia Tegra 2 processors that are just appearing on the market. The processors won't just offer "5 times the 3D graphics performance over the previous processor generation from Samsung," but will also bring new availabilities with them.

Engadget writes that the new chipset will include the ability for "1080p video encoding and decoding at 30fps, embedded GPS, a native triple display controller, and on-chip HDMI 1.3a interface." They go on to explain that the triple display controller and HDMI 1.3a interface means that a device using these chipsets should be able to drive two displays on the device, as well as a third using the HDMI cable.

AndroidandMe writes that it is hard to say whether Samsung's Orion or Nvidia's Tegra 2 will be the highest performing chipset:

NVIDIA is also claiming 5x graphics performance of previous generation single-core CPUs, so it will be interesting to see these two processors go head-to-head and find out who comes out on top. Little is known about the complete architecture of NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 system-on-chip, but Samsung could have the advantage with modifications they have made to the ARM Cortex-A9 reference design. Samsung included several bonuses like a 1MB L2 cache to optimize CPU processing performance, added support for DDR3 memory, and features an onboard native triple display controller. 

Phandroid adds that Orion is "also being designed on a 45nm low-power die, meaning battery life might not take a hit compared to the relatively weaker chipsets of today. The chipset should be shipping later this year to select manufacturers."

Android Central mentions that LG is planning on using the Tegra 2 in some of their future devices.

Head on over to Business Wire to check out the whole press release from Samsung.

Other Sources: AndroidandMe, Android Central, Engadget, Phandroid

Image from Android Central