Qualcomm chip promises mobile data that’s faster than fixed line fibre
CHIP maker Qualcomm has announced new technology that promises to blow the socks off your mobile download speeds.
MAJOR chip-maker Qualcomm has announced new smartphone technology which promises to blow the socks off your mobile download speeds.
The company which produces the chips and processors that make up the guts of many modern smartphones unveiled the Snapdragon X20, an LTE modem capable of download speeds up to 1.2Gbps.
Qualcomm says the chip will allow smartphone makers to deliver experiences such as 360-degree video, virtual reality, connected cloud computing and super fast downloads on their mobile device.
The chip manages the unprecedented feat through more aggressive carrier aggregation (which bonds carrier frequency ranges) which allows it to download 12 unique data streams of up to 100Mbps each, engadget reported.
If the chip is capable of what Qualcomm is promising, it would provide download speeds faster than many current fixed line fibre services.
Crank it up – our #Snapdragon X20 modem is breaking the #GigabitLTE barrier, with download speeds up to 1.2 Gbps. https://t.co/Go3X4mn5SE pic.twitter.com/cfp5uU46d5
— Qualcomm (@Qualcomm) February 21, 2017
The new Snapdragon chips supports more combinations of LTE carriers and a higher number of total LTE spatial streams. “The implications of this are massive,” the company said in a blog post.
Speaking to The Inquirer, Qualcomm’s senior director Ben Timmons said the new chip — which is 20 per cent more powerful than its predecessor — is all about offering more flexibility when it comes to providers tapping into spectrum, particularly as the world moves towards Gigabit LTE and 5G technology.
“While the 1.2Gbps speed capability is important, it’s probably more important that it brings additional flexibility. Most of the mobile operators have diverse spectrum, and it varies from country to country,” he said.
“The X20 critically brings an extra level of flexibility that will allow an extra set of operators to get up to a Gigabit or beyond.”
Samples of the X20 are available to device makers now, but they aren’t expected to be appear in phones until at least the first half of 2018.
Originally published as Qualcomm chip promises mobile data that’s faster than fixed line fibre
