2019 is the year when 5G starts and most Android-based smartphone manufacturers have a 5G plan and want to launch in 2019. Depending on the market, the US, Australia, China, parts of Europe will get 5G in the course of 2019 and of course, phones with 5G capability are needed.

Pete Lancia, a VP of communications at Qualcomm  announced that there are 30+ design wins for Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 mobile platform with X50 5G modem. This is quite a number and even Samsung committed back in December that it plans to use Qualcomm 855 + X50 combo for its early 5G devices. Pete mentioned that these are predominantly smartphones meaning that there will be some other 855 + X50 powered devices outside of phones.



OnePlus also announced its 5G commitment back at the Snapdragon Tech Summit in early December in Hawaii while it is expected that most China-based phone manufactures will launch a Snapdragon 855 + X50 solution. Keep your eyes open at the Mobile World Congress 2019 in late February for many announcements.

Another big win for Qualcomm is that nearly all the 30+ designs are using Qualcomm RF Front End solution. This is a big win for Qualcomm's RFFE business unit, a joint venture between Qualcomm and TDK announced back in February 2017. Part of 5G in a smartphone phone factor solution which is definitely a good RF Front end as packing so many antennas including, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, 4G, 3G and now sub 6 GHz and mm Waves for 5G is quite a challenge.

“We believe that virtually all 5G mobile devices launched in 2019 will be built on Qualcomm Technologies’ 5G solutions,” said Cristiano Amon, president, Qualcomm Incorporated. “5G will pave the way for next-generation immersive experiences, including near-instant access to cloud services, multiplayer VR gaming, shopping with AR, and real-time video collaboration. The world is ready for the 5G smartphone premium experience and Qualcomm Technologies, along with our OEM, operator and infrastructure partners, will be first delivering those experiences in 2019.”