Qualcomm to integrate 5G modem in Snapdragon 6 and 7 chipsets coming in 2020

Qualcomm announced at IFA 2019 that its 5G modem will be making its way into the mid-range Snapdragon 6xx and 7xx chipsets. The silicon company had already announced earlier this year that it will be integrating the 5G modem into the upcoming 8xx series 5G platform. All the 5G integrated platforms will be coming out in 2020. [caption id=“attachment_4781631” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”]  A sign on the Qualcomm campus is seen, as chip maker Broadcom Ltd announced an unsolicited bid to buy peer Qualcomm Inc for $103 billion, in San Diego, California, U.S. November 6, 2017. Image: Reuters.[/caption] While the initial rollout of 5G began with the Snapdragon 855 platform on devices including the OnePlus 7 Pro, Oppo Reno, Samsung Galaxy S10, etc., the 5G modems were an individual module separate from the main processor. Qualcomm’s next range of chipsets will integrate the 5G modem right into the processors. The three Snapdragon 5G platforms will support all the key regions and frequency bands, according to Qualcomm. The devices using these platforms will support the entire range of 5G features including mmWave and sub-6 GHz spectrum, TDD and FDD modes, 5G multi-SIM, Dynamic Spectrum Sharing, and Standalone (SA) and non-standalone (NSA) network architectures. The company also announced that 12 manufacturers including Oppo, Realme, Redmi, Vivo, Motorola, Nokia, LG, and more are planning to use the Snapdragon 7 series 5G platform for their future 5G-enabled devices. Qualcomm expects the 7 series to be commercially available by the fourth quarter of 2019 while the 6 series is expected by the second quarter of 2020. The next generation of the 8 series is set to arrive later this year, the company said.