Qualcomm has confirmed that its new, next-gen S4 class processors will be Windows 8-friendly when the new Microsoft operating system comes out.

"We are supporting Windows 8 with a comprehensive upcoming family of S4 Snapdragon processors," said Christiano Amon, the man in charge of Snapdragon in Europe.

The new chips, which will work up to speeds of 2.5GHz and come with a  number of connectivity and technologies built in as standard, are expected to be in devices and on sale to consumers in the first half of 2012.

Qualcomm said that, in particular, the new Dual-Core MSM8960 and Quad-Core APQ8064 will be ready to play with Windows 8.

Those who like to quote numbers will also like the fact that the new S4 class chipset will offer Adreno Graphics, 3D, 1080p HD, and sport 3G and LTE connectivity as standard.

The new processors will be available to manufacturers by the end of the year, meaning we should see new 2.5GHz phones launching at Mobile World Congress in February, the world’s largest phone trade show.

But it’s not all about speed according to the company’s CEO, Paul Jacobs:

"It’s not about how many cores or how many gigabytes, it’s how well you can optimise the system."

Check out all the latest Windows 8 news via our dedicated homepage.