Chipmaker Qualcomm today announced the world’s first Category 20 LTE modem supporting up to 2 gigabits per second (Gbps) download speeds and the first-announced chip built on 7nm FinFET process. Dubbed as the Snapdragon X24 LTE Modem, it is the company’s eighth-generation LTE multimode modem and third generation Gigabit LTE solution, featuring the most advanced cellular features of any commercially available 4G LTE modem to date, and strengthening the LTE foundation for future 5G NR multimode devices and networks. Qualcomm also confirmed that the new Snapdragon X24 LTE modem would be featured in a live demonstration at the Mobile World Congress 2018 tech show in conjunction with Ericsson, Telstra and Netgear.
Qualcomm also stated that the Snapdragon X24 LTE modem delivers double the speed of the company's first generation Gigabit LTE modem. Talking about the specifications, the Snapdragon X24 supports up to 7x carrier aggregation in the downlink, as well as 4x4 MIMO on up to five aggregated LTE carriers – both mobile industry firsts – for a total of up to 20 concurrent spatial LTE streams.
"With the Snapdragon X24 LTE modem’s fiber-like Internet speeds delivered wirelessly, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can offer consumers incredible mobile experiences such as immersive 360-degree video, connected cloud computing, rich entertainment and instant apps. At the same time, operators can gain flexibility in using their spectrum assets to offer blazing fast speeds to consumers, while also improving their network capacity and maximising spectral efficiency," said Qualcomm in its blog post.
This feature allows smartphones with the new X24 LTE modem to utilise all spectrum assets available from a mobile operator, whether in the licensed spectrum or with License Assisted Access (LAA). Additional system capacity improvements are made possible through the support of Full Dimension Multi-Input Multi-Output (FD-MIMO), a Massive MIMO technology that is foundational to future 5G NR networks. In the uplink, the Snapdragon X24 supports Category 20 upload speeds, 3x20 MHz CA and up to 256-QAM.
And the best part is Qualcomm is ready for demonstrating the new X24 LTE modem at the Mobile World Congress 2018 event which is scheduled to happen in just ten days from now.
