Published in Mobiles

Snapdragon 820 gets superfast modem

by on15 September 2015


Cat 12, 600 Mbps modem is a giant speed leap

Qualcomm has revealed that its coming Snapdragon 820 will have a Category 12, 600 Mbps 4G/ LTE modem.

Dubbed X12 it will be the company's fastest modem to date. It is expected to show in early 2016 in some high end devices and the Snapdragon 820 SoC.

The X12 modem has a Cat 13 uplink that can upload up to 150 Mbps. These speeds are pure marketing as it will take years for any network providers to change and adjust their network and infrastructure. There are few carriers who have even infrastructure for Cat 6 let alone something as bleeding edge as Cat 12.

The new LTE advanced X12 modem supports up to 4x4 MIMO on one downlink LTE carrier. The X12 modem uses the unlincenced spectrum including 2x2 MU-MIMO (802.11ac), Multi-gigabit 802.11ad and LTE-U and LTE+Wi-Fi Link Aggregation (LWA).

It enables the Next Gen HD Voice and Video calling over LTE and Wi-Fi as well as Call Continuity across Wi-Fi, LTE, 3G, and 2G.

The new RF has an Advanced Closed Loop Antenna Tuner, Qualcomm RF360 front end solution with CA  and Wi-Fi/LTE antenna sharing.

The X12 modem will be available as a part of Snapdragon 820 or as a standalone chip. It might even make a future iPhone. Apple is Qualcomm's biggest customer that takes just the modem and has its SoC in house.  

Devices based on the Snapdragon 820 processor are expected to be available in 1H of 2016.
Alex Katouzian, senior vice president, product management, Qualcomm Technologies told us that the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor with X12 LTE modem will be a new industry leader.

"It offers highly differentiated features that put OEMs and carriers on the cutting edge, including the latest advances in LTE and Wi-Fi connectivity, With technologies like 4K video, virtual reality and cognitive computing rapidly evolving, it's important to provide consumers with the speed and bandwidth to create a more compelling mobile experience.”

 

Last modified on 15 September 2015
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