Qualcomm President Cristiano Amon on stage at IFA 2019.Digital Trends
You’ve heard 5G is coming, though it might seem tough to get excited about what is essentially an incremental improvement in mobile internet speeds. But Qualcomm President Cristiano Amon wants to change that, announcing the chipmaker’s new 5G features at IFA 2019 and laying out some of the uses of faster mobile internet like video streaming, connected cars, augmented reality, and cloud gaming.
The theme for Qualcomm’s 5G expansion is “everything is connected,” with devices linked to the cloud to provide unlimited access to data and better computing power. While 4G met the industry’s need of transformation from desktop to mobile, Amon says 5G will solve new kinds of problems by improving connectivity between devices. “Everything will benefit from being connected,” he predicted.
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A big emphasis for 5G development is on video streaming, which Amon says is the future of entertainment. Whether it’s watching high-definition YouTube videos or video chatting with friends or family, the idea is to enable HD playback on mobile devices from anywhere. Apps, too, will benefit from offloading their processing requirements away from phones and into the cloud.
The other big target for 5G is gaming. Qualcomm has set its sights on consoles, with Amon boldly announcing the company is “working to make the next gaming console the last gaming console.” With the ability to download large games in seconds and to stream games to mobile devices, 5G smartphones are coming for the console market. Serious gaming on a mobile device is already on its way thanks to a partnership between Microsoft and Sony tackling cloud-based gaming and, of course, the upcoming Google Stadia service.
To support these ambitions, Qualcomm is expanding 5G support across its Snapdragon 8 Series, 7 Series, and 6 Series processors. The chips should be commercially available by the end of this year, with brands making 5G devices available for 2020. This move has the potential to make 5G available on a much wider range of devices and to reach more than 2 billion smartphone users.
There’s also the announcement of the 5G-enabling Modem-RF System which combines a modem, RT transceiver, and RF front end into one package, in what Qualcomm calls a “modem-to-antenna 5G solution.” It’s all the hardware parts needed for 5G support bundled into one system, which is the fastest available modem in the mobile industry.
Another aim is to make 5G available to more users, especially those who live in rural regions with poor broadband connectivity. The first step in this is the introduction of the millimeter wave (mmWave) antenna module which will bring 5G to the home. With 5G wireless access, there is an alternative to fiber which is better suited for more remote areas.
Alex Choi of Deutsche Telekom joins Qualcomm on the IFA 2019 stage.Digital Trends
Qualcomm also shouted out its partners in pushing 5G, being joined on the stage by Alex Choi of Deutsche Telekom who talked about the state of 5G adoption in Germany, June Hee Lee of Samsung who talked about the company’s range of 5G phones including the troubled (but now apparently fixed) Samsung Galaxy Fold, and BMW’s Christoph Grote who addressed the company’s big plans for 5G connected cars.
When it comes to 5G, “No one company can do everything,” Amon said. “It’s all about infrastructure.” That’s certainly true, as for now 5G availability is spotty at best and the industry will need to work hard to convince skeptical customers to upgrade their phones yet again.
Your next phone could get a huge 5G upgrade, thanks to AI
It’s that time of year again when Qualcomm ushers in its next generation of 5G modem technology. Announced at Mobile World Congress (MWC ) 2024, this year’s Snapdragon X80 5G Modem-RF system is the successor to last year’s Snapdragon X75, and it builds on the 5G Advanced foundation laid last year with more raw power and new AI features.
While the Snapdragon X75 moved the needle by adding support for the latest 5G Advanced standards, we’re still in that fourth phase of 5G technology, otherwise known as 3GPP Release 18 — and most carrier networks are still catching up. So, with no new standards to embrace, Qualcomm has focused on improving the inside of the Snapdragon X80 to take even fuller advantage of these cutting-edge 5G technologies.
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This tiny dongle will change 5G connectivity forever
TCL is having a busy start to 2024. First, it announced a staggering number of new smartphones and two new tablets at CES, and now it’s unveiling something else at MWC 2024 — one of the world’s first 5G dongles that takes advantage of the latest power-efficient 5G standards.
TCL Mobile’s Linkkey IK511 is a pocketable new 5G adapter that’s powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X35 5G Modem-RF system, which debuted last year as the first 5G modem to support the new NR-Light “RedCap” standard.
5G for everyone, everything, everywhere
TCL Linkkey IK511 TCL
T-Mobile’s rivals may be nipping at its heels in the 5G race, but the Uncarrier is determined to stay ahead of the game. It not only boasts the fastest and most expansive 5G network in the U.S., but it’s actively working on technologies that will help it reach even greater peak speeds.
Two years ago, T-Mobile used a relatively new technique known as 5G Carrier Aggregation (5G CA) to achieve the kind of 3Gbps download speeds on midband frequencies that had previously been the exclusive domain of extremely high (and extremely short-range) mmWave technologies. Now, it’s chalked up another 5G first by taking advantage of the latest developments to shatter the traditional cap on upload speeds over sub-6GHz frequencies.
T-Mobile's newest 5G record
