Qualcomm has unveiled the Snapdragon X20 LTE modem, the world’s first chipset to support LTE Category 18 and boasting download speeds of up to 1.2Gbps, which is 20% faster than the previous model and beats out many landline fibre internet connections. The Qualcomm Snapdragon X20 supports 3.5MHz and is also able to handle high-quality LTE phone calls with dual SIM smartphones.
“The Snapdragon X20 LTE modem peak speeds extend beyond Gigabit LTE by using Carrier Aggregation and 4×4 MIMO,” Qualcomm says. “With these capabilities, the Snapdragon X20 LTE modem can simultaneously receive 12 unique streams of data on as few as three 20 MHz carriers. On each downlink stream, the Snapdragon X20 LTE modem’s support for 256-QAM boosts the peak throughput to ~100Mbps. On the uplink, 2x20MHz carrier aggregation plus 64-QAM allows for speeds up to 150Mbps.”
“The Snapdragon X20 LTE modem is the latest example of Qualcomm extending our connectivity leadership and puts us at the forefront in driving global deployment of Gigabit LTE worldwide, laying an essential foundation for the successful launch of 5G mobile services worldwide,” Serge Willenegger, Senior Vice President of Product Management for Qualcomm, said. “We anticipate that the Snapdragon X20 LTE modem will help accelerate the worldwide adoption of Gigabit LTE, allowing users to enjoy even faster data speeds, further improving consumers’ always on mobile lifestyle.”
The Qualcomm Snapdragon X20 LTE modem is expected to appear in devices during the first half of 2018.
