Qualcomm announced 12 OEMs including Oppo, realme, Xiaomi, Vivo, Motorola, HMD Global (Nokia), and LG will launch their mid-range 5G smartphones — on Snapdragon 7 Series 5G mobile platform — in 2020.
The OEM customer list revealed by Qualcomm for mid-range 5G smartphones does not include Samsung, Huawei and Apple, the top three smartphone companies in the world. Samsung and Huawei are already dominating in terms of 5G innovations.
The world’s largest smartphone chip maker revealed that it will be expanding its portfolio of 5G mobile platforms across the Snapdragon 8 Series, 7 Series and 6 Series in 2020. This development indicates that global phone companies will be able to bring out mid-priced 5G smartphones soon.
Qualcomm’s 6 and 7 series Snapdragon chips are found in devices from Lenovo Group’s Motorola, Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo that retail in the $300 price range. Samsung’s $1,299 Galaxy S10 5G model uses Snapdragon 8 Series 5G mobile platform. Samsung currently dominates the 5G smartphone market.
Samsung on Thursday said that it would use a Qualcomm chip in its Galaxy A90 handset in Europe, a device that previously used Samsung’s own processor chips.
Apple’s settlement of a patent dispute with Qualcomm, and Intel’s exit from smartphone modem business reflect the U.S. chipmaker’s muscle in a global market that is increasingly fragmenting due to the U.S.-China trade tension, Reuters reported.
Qualcomm started sampling the integrated Snapdragon 7 Series 5G Mobile Platform to its OEM customers in the second quarter of 2019. It accelerated the commercial readiness of Snapdragon 7 Series 5G Mobile Platform to fourth quarter of 2019.
Qualcomm claims that over 150 5G designs launched or in development to date used the company’s 5G solutions.
“This expanded portfolio rollout aims to support features and frequency bands globally and has the potential to make 5G accessible to more than 2 billion smartphone users,” said Alex Katouzian, senior vice president and general manager, mobile, Qualcomm Technologies, in a statement.
Snapdragon’s expanded portfolio of 5G mobile platforms is designed to support all key regions and frequency bands including mmWave and sub-6 GHz spectrum, TDD and FDD modes, 5G multi-SIM, Dynamic Spectrum Sharing, and Standalone (SA) and non-standalone (NSA) network architectures.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 6 Series 5G mobile platform will improve 5G user experiences in alignment with operators’ deployment plans to deliver 5G coverage. Devices based on the Snapdragon 6 Series 5G Mobile Platform are expected to be commercially available in the second half of 2020 proliferating 5G globally.
Qualcomm Technologies today introduced Qualcomm QTM527 mmWave antenna module for the Snapdragon X55 5G Modem-RF System, delivering the world’s first fully integrated mmWave solution for 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) – allowing mobile operators to offer fixed internet broadband services to homes and businesses using their 5G network infrastructure.
The US-based technology company said 5G fixed wireless access CPEs can be deployed on a roof or in a window to receive a 5G signal – skipping the last mile fiber deployment typically needed for in-home broadband.
The QTM527 mmWave antenna module offers fiber-equivalent performance at extended range, enabling carriers and OEMs to deliver 5G’s multi-gigabit speeds and ultra-low latency to a wider customer base within a large coverage footprint.
Qualcomm is shipping Snapdragon X55 5G Modem-RF System to OEM customers. It will be in commercial devices including 5G smartphones, laptops, customer-premise equipment for fixed wireless access, mobile hotspots, routers and automotive products, in late 2019.
Baburajan K
