The boys over at Gizmodo have been polishing, peering into and generally chanting at their crystal balls, prompted by a press release from chip manufacturer Broadcom.  It turns out that Broadcom’s latest 3G HSUPA-capable processor – the BCM21551 – might just be the salvation for those people seriously frustrated by the lack of anything faster than EDGE networking in the iPhone.  Not only does the chip bring high-speed network connectivity, FM receiving and transmitting, Bluetooth 2.1 and more on one 65nm die, it does so with incredibly frugal power requirements.

Steve Jobs has been clear that 3G is missing from the iPhone predominantly down to the power-needs current high-speed hardware has.  Where the Broadcom chip differs is the “very long battery life” possibilities, despite handling all the USB 2.0 duties, full stereo sound, LCD interface, open OS support and digital mixing with two integrated ARM processors.

It’s all prediction and heresay, of course, but this is exactly the sort of hardware development that Apple have been known to take on as early-adopters.  Don’t be surprised if you see something like this in the next-gen iPhone breakdown!