The majority of the smartphones including the latest iPhone 12 lineup rely on Qualcomm for 5G modems. Specifically, the iPhone 12 series uses the Snapdragon X55 modem. Qualcomm introduced the X60 modem in the Snapdragon 888 SoC last December and it will be used by major flagships of 2021. The company looks all prepared for the future as it has already announced the Snapdragon X65 modem that we are likely to find in next year’s phone or the likely “Plus” variant of the SD 888. In this post, we will be taking a look at the specifications, features, and availability of the Qualcomm Snapdragon X65 modem.
Qualcomm Snapdragon X65 5G Modem-RF:
While the Snapdragon X60 modem is built on a 5nm process, the X65 is built on an even smaller process of 4nm. Qualcomm says that the architecture of the X65 modem is upgradeable. The feature set can be expanded in the future to meet the demand of then phones. The highlight here is the theoretical speed of up to 10Gbps which is a bump from the 7.5Gbps of current 5G modems.
New Antenna System
Here, the Snapdragon X65 modem is paired with the fourth-generation QTM545 mmWave antenna. This combination allows higher transmit power and has support for the new n259 (41 GHz), n70, and n53 bands. X65 also comes with the world’s first AI antenna tuning technology. The new antenna package has the same size as the previous solution.
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5G Phase 2 Compatible
It supports spectrum aggregation across both mmWave and sub-6GHz network using FDD and TDD techniques. Qualcomm is also promising 5G Release 16 standard compatibility which means the new modem is ready for the 5G Phase 2 rollout. Compared to Phase 1, Phase 2 brings improvements in performance, power efficiency along with some changes in the infrastructure and application.
New Technologies
The X65 Modem comes with Qualcomm 5G PowerSave 2.0 and Smart Transmit 2.0. The former is based on the power saving technologies defined in the 3GPP Release 16. On the other hand, the latter makes use of the new modem-to-antenna awareness system for faster speed and expanded coverage.
Expandability
Other than smartphones, the new Snapdragon X65 5G can be incorporated into other products like tablets, laptops & PCs, etc. Thus, the company believes that its latest product will be instrumental in expanding 5G access to other platforms such as PC, IoT, fixed wireless access, and private networks.
Qualcomm Snapdragon X65 5G Modem Availability
We won’t be seeing any smartphone making use of the new Snapdragon X65 modem any time soon. At the latest, the new Snapdragon X65 5G modem from Qualcomm will be used in premium smartphones of 2022.
| Smartphone 5G modem | Availability |
| Qualcomm Snapdragon X65 5G | 2022 |
- Check out our review of the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra.
