We've been hearing an awful lot about quad-core smartphones over the last few months, particularly at CES, where several companies discussed plans to launch quad-core phones later this year. However, we still haven't seen any in stores yet. Fear not, though, as they are coming very, very soon. Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsung Huang said today that we can expect to see them before the end of March.

"This quarter we are expecting to ship Tegra 3 based superphones. At Mobile World Congress is when we expect to announce these devices, and we expect to announce and ship them this quarter," he said during the company's earnings call this week.

Tegra 3, codenamed Kal-El, was officially released on November 9, 2011, but there are only a handful of devices using the chip at the moment (the Transformer Prime, the Iconia Tab A700, and the IdeaPad K2 from Lenovo). Nvidia this week posted earnings for the fourth quarter and reported a faster-than-expected decline in Tegra 2 sales. This in turn caused the manufacturer's consumer business to nose-dive by 42.5-percent sequentially.

Despite this drop in Tegra 2 sales, Nvidia noted that Tegra shipped in 14 phones and 34 tablets. Additionally, VP Rob Csongor said Tegra 3 is well-positioned and should deliver "renewed growth." Total Tegra sales in 2011 were about $360 million. For 2012, the company expects "at least" $540 million, the majority of which will be generated via Tegra 3.

Mobile World Congress is set to take place at the end of this month, so stay tuned for news on Tegra 3 smartphones and tablets.