Cellular handset integration -- SIP vs. SOC

Cellular handsets are rapidly evolving from voice-only products to highly featured designs featuring color displays, games, audio, video, cameras, Bluetooth, GPS, WLAN, highspeed wide-area data services, and other advanced features. This remarkable expansion in capability, in conjunction with ongoing customer demands for sleek, ergonomic, and reasonably priced handsets with good battery life, places considerable pressure on handset component providers to aggressively integrate the handset electronics. System-in-package (SIP) integration and system-on-chip (SOC) integration are two possible approaches. This paper investigates the tradeoffs between SIP and SOC integration for the integration of memories, analog, and RF electronics in the handset.