Qualcomm unveiled its fourth-generation 5G modem, targeting significant speed gains with a system it pitched as the first capable of hitting 10Gb/s.
The company said its Snapdragon X65 modem-RF platform is the first compliant with 3GPP’s Rel-16 specification and was designed with an upgradeable architecture enabling new features to be added to help extend device lifespans.
It includes what Qualcomm billed as the “world’s first” AI antenna tuning technology to improve data rates, coverage range and power efficiency.
A fourth-generation mmWave antenna module (QTM 545) enables higher transmit power compared with its QTM 535 predecessor, and compatibility with all global high-frequency bands including 42GHz.
Qualcomm president Cristiano Amon said Snapdragon X65 will “play a critical role” in redefining smartphone experiences and “opening a new realm of possibilities for 5G expansion across mobile broadband, compute, XR, industrial IoT, 5G private networks and fixed wireless access”.
In 2020, Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon X60 platform, which enabled peak download rates of 7.5Gb/s.
Qualcomm also unveiled Snapdragon X62, a lower-tier version of the platform “optimised for mainstream adoption of mobile broadband applications”.
Both are currently sampling to manufacturers and expected to be in commercial devices by late 2021.
The company also updated its fixed wireless access offering for the first time since 2019, unveiling a second-generation system based on Snapdragon X65 with space for eight mmWave antennas.
Originally published by
Diana Goovaerts| February 9, 2021
Mobile World Live
