I almost feel sorry for the iPhone 3GS. It hasn't even been birthed to the world yet, and everyone's already talking about how much better its little brother is going to be. That's right; we've got some of the very first rumors about the next new iPhone. The rumor mill just started churning over news that Apple's next smartphone might contain dual or even quad core technology.

The current iPhones are powered by a single-core ARM chip, which runs at speeds of about 600 mHz. The Cortex A9, ARM's next generation of chip, is 'definitely' going to turn up in smartphones starting in 2010, according to James Bruce of ARM.

The A9 is a dual-core chip that is billed as being significantly more power-efficient than the current A8 chip. This is because the A9 chip is able to process more applications more rapidly than the older chips, which means less energy usage during normal wear-and-tear. That's good news for smartphone owners who find their battery dying in the middle of the day.

The coming of dual (and soon quad) core processors for smartphones means a revolution in mobile gaming. Those rumors we've heard about full versions of World of Warcraft coming for the iPhone don't sound quite so far-fetched anymore, do they?