Qualcomm has announced the Snapdragon X65. According to the company, it is the world’s first modem that supports network speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second. The modem is to be incorporated into smartphones, among other things.
The Snapdragon X65 is produced on TSMC’s 4nm process. It has more and more powerful antennas than its predecessors and supports more mmWave frequencies. Qualcomm claims to use artificial intelligence to tune the antennas. This should bring improved power consumption and allow the system to better deal with users blocking the antennas with their hands.
Qualcomm does not only want to use the Snapdragon X65 for premium phones. In a press release, the company also mentions mobile broadband connections, industrial IoT applications and 5G private networks. The system can be equipped with new features via updates in the future.
In addition to the Snapdragon X65, Qualcomm has also announced the Snapdragon X62. This is a cheaper modem, which should support speeds up to 4.4 gigabits per second. In comparison, the X60, the predecessor of the X65, supported maximum speeds of 7.5 gigabits per second. The new modems should be available in devices from the end of 2021.
5G growing slowly in Europe
The rollout of 5G is slowly but surely moving forward. In countries such as China and the US, there is already relatively widespread coverage, but Europe is a mixed bag. Apple CEO Tim Cook recently described the 5G coverage in Europe as a patchwork quilt. He was referring to the varying state of coverage in the different European countries. Research bureau Gartner also thinks that there is still room to grow in 5G in Europe. This can be attributed to the availability of affordable phones with 5G support, although Gartner thinks that this will improve in 2021.
Earlier this year, Qualcomm released the Snapdragon 480. This is an affordable SoC for cheaper smartphones. Moreover, the chip has 5G support, which will certainly contribute to a wider acceptance of the technology.
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