Qualcomm's Snapdragon X70 Modem 5Gs Smarter, Not Harder
The new information superhighway is open, so now it's time to fine-tune your engine. Qualcomm announced its X70 modem on Monday at MWC, which it says can get better range out of existing 5G networks when it debuts in devices toward the end of this year.
Qualcomm's modems appear in most premium US phones, including the Galaxy S22 series and Apple's iPhones.
But competition is ramping up. Mediatek has been gaining share in the US with its success in the Samsung A12 and A32 phones, and the company has said it plans to introduce its first chipset with an integrated millimeter-wave modem this year. Analysts say Apple plans to introduce its own modem in 2023 or 2024.
The X70's key innovation is the Qualcomm AI Suite, which uses new AI processing hardware inside the modem to help phones stay connected to wobbly 5G signals. The new features are AI-based channel state optimization, AI-based millimeter-wave beam management, and AI-based network selection.
Qualcomm's first AI-based optimization move, AI-based antenna tuning, might have helped the current X65 modem to show the distinctly better 4G and mid-band 5G performance I saw when testing the Galaxy S22 line.
"What does all this get you? Double digit performance improvements in throughput, coverage, and link robustness," Qualcomm global VP of marketing Mike Roberts said.
The new technologies make a big difference, Qualcomm's director of product marketing Nitin Dhiman said. In tests in San Francisco, the AI enabled 28% better coverage of a 39GHz millimeter-wave system by being able to tune and select beams better, he noted.
That would extend the range of millimeter-wave panels, mostly installed by Verizon right now and mostly in cities, from the 850 feet I've measured in the
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