What you need to know
- Qualcomm announced its next-generation Snapdragon X70 modem earlier this year.
- The company is announcing new capabilities and milestones for the modem at its annual 5G Summit.
- The Snapdragon X70 modem will bring Smart Transmit to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for optimized performance.
- The first devices with the new modem will arrive later this year.
Qualcomm has kicked off its annual 5G Summit, where the company lays out its plans to further improve 5G adoption and performance. Earlier this year, the company announced the Snapdragon X70 5G modem, outlining key features to enhance 5G connectivity. Qualcomm is now highlighting a new feature that will be available on the modem and a new connectivity milestone.
When the Snapdragon X70 arrives later this year, it will be equipped with Smart Transmit 3.0. This technology allows the modem to optimize radio transmit power to enable faster speeds and better connection when the user needs it while saving energy for when they don't. This was previously available for 2G-5G cellular connections, including mmWave, but with Smart Transmit 3.0, Qualcomm is bringing Wi-Fi and Bluetooth into the mix. This should enable faster and more robust connections no matter how you transmit data.
This also pairs with the X70's 5G AI Suite, which will use AI to optimize connections and enable mmWave beam management, which should help boost mmWave connections by as much as 25%.
Speaking of faster connections, Qualcomm is also highlighting the "world's first 5G standalone mmWave connection." The company demonstrated this in its San Diego test labs, achieving more than 8Gbps speeds thanks to carrier aggregation. This represents a significant milestone for Qualcomm as it aims to boost mmWave adoption for more regions and operators. This can give carriers the ability to deploy wireless broadband services using standalone mmWave, without the need to rely on sub-6 5G.
"Snapdragon X70 gives operators the ability to deliver extreme 5G capacity, multi-Gigabit data speeds, and new use cases across devices from smartphones to laptops, fixed wireless access equipment, industrial machines, and more," says Durga Malladi, Qualcomm Technologies' senior vice president and general manager of Cellular Modems and Infrastructure. "We look forward to working with industry leaders to advance 5G to power best-in-class connectivity experiences at the connected intelligent edge and transform industries across consumer, enterprise and industrial settings."
The Snapdragon X70 5G modem is expected to power some of the best Android phones later this year.
