Mobile Performance and Next Generation Applications Given Boost by New LTE Modem

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By David McQueen | 1Q 2018 | IN-5060

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X24 LTE modem provides the mobile market with a significant step up in speed and features, offering mobile carriers greater network efficiency and a much needed boost to cope with the growing generation of data hungry mobile applications. It also gives smartphone vendors the opportunity to provide power-efficient connectivity and enhanced mobile experiences, showcasing a first real tangible glimpse of what is to come with 5G. The Snapdragon X24 LTE modem has started sampling to Qualcomm’s OEM partners and the first commercial devices are expected by the end of 2018. Will device OEMs embrace enhanced LTE with a view to preparing for 5G or will they remain cautious?

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Qualcomm Launches Snapdragon X24, Announced as the World’s First 2 Gbps LTE Modem

NEWS


Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X24 LTE modem provides the mobile market with a significant step up in speed and features, offering mobile carriers greater network efficiency and a much needed boost to cope with the growing generation of data hungry mobile applications. It also gives smartphone vendors the opportunity to provide power-efficient connectivity and enhanced mobile experiences, showcasing a first real tangible glimpse of what is to come with 5G. The Snapdragon X24 LTE modem has started sampling to Qualcomm’s OEM partners and the first commercial devices are expected by the end of 2018. Will device OEMs embrace enhanced LTE with a view to preparing for 5G or will they remain cautious?

X24 Brings Significant Improvements in Mobile Performance and User Experience

IMPACT


Qualcomm’s announcement of its most powerful LTE modem to date and the world’s first commercially announced Category 20 LTE modem, the X24, is designed to further bridge the gap between LTE and the imminent arrival of 5G. In a number of world’s firsts, this advanced LTE modem has boosted throughput to 2 Gbps and is based on leading edge 7 nm technology. These two attributes alone provide significant improvements in mobile performance and user experience, notably offering savings in energy consumption and network efficiency through full optimization of operators’ spectrum while maximizing the capacity of gigabit LTE networks. The X24 is also able to support industry-leading 7X carrier aggregation and 4x4 MIMO in three aggregated carriers, stretching the physical limits of a smartphone form factor.

The announcement will come as welcome relief to mobile carriers. The proliferation of a new generation of mobile applications, including AR, VR, MR, video streaming, and 360-degree imaging, together with the increased usage of mobile social networking and the move to unlimited data plans, are currently challenging existing mobile networks, putting even greater demands on capacity.

The move to gigabit class modems will become a key differentiator for both mobile operators and OEMs alike to improve the user experience and accelerate device replacement cycles, while also enabling the network to cope efficiently with ongoing mobile data traffic growth. Utilizing such technology will allow faster mobile broadband speeds and greater capacity to enable more users on the network. Handset manufacturers will benefit from the ability to provide power-efficient connectivity while offering enhanced mobile experiences such as 360-degree video, connected cloud computing, rich content, and instant apps.

Timing is Crucial for Smartphone Vendors

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This latest addition to Qualcomm’s modem stable is clearly a continuation of the company’s drive to take the industry closer to 5G, while also significantly widening the technology gap from its competing suppliers. However, while there are obvious benefits afforded to mobile operators and OEMs from implementing such technology, it will be challenging for smartphone OEMs to design handsets that are capable of supporting so many bands and antennas.

Moreover, although the X24 modem is sampling to partners, no deals have yet been announced with the OEMs, so it will be interesting to see how quickly handsets that carry the technology will become available in the market by the end of 2018. Any incremental costs associated with X24 smartphone integration cannot be seen to be prohibitive because it is not long before they will meet the challenge of 5G products coming to market. Indeed, no sooner had the X24 been announced when, less than 4 months after the announcement of Qualcomm’s X50, the world’s first 5G modem, the company thrust the X50 chipset to the front and center of 5G deployments. Industry leaders, including 18 mobile operators, major infrastructure suppliers, and 18 OEMs, have all committed their support to the chipset for early 5G commercial launches due in 2019.

With this in mind, if the market is to truly embrace the X24, then major smartphone device vendors will need to be on board quickly so they can prepare themselves for the design challenges they will face with 5G. Failure to do so will leave some OEMs trailing the market, which could create a marked slowdown in the smartphone replacement cycle as users endure a lengthy delay for model upgrades with X24, or else they hold fire altogether and await the advent of 5G. Any delay here could slow down the pace of innovation and decelerate the takeoff of some bandwidth-hungry applications, most notably AR/VR and machine vision applications. However, while this may be an issue in the short term, the X24 will undoubtedly have an important future role to play in the mid-term as it will form the basis of the gigabit LTE backup component of the Snapdragon X50 modem scheduled for 2019.

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