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New 5G SOCs Target Midrange Phones
February 23, 2020
One of the barriers to upgrading to 5G smartphones is the high price of the device coupled with the available coverage of the new technology. This high-price component is likely here for a while, but chip manufacturers are building plans to move their 5G technology on to chips (called 5G System on Chip (SoC)) for use in mid-level devices targeted to price-conscious consumers. Qualcomm's flagship Snapdragon 8 is powering many of the first 5G devices, and they recently announced plans to make 5G capabilities in other chips like Snapdragon 6 and 7 series, which can reduce the overall cost of the device.
It is becoming clear that the success path relies on the device community to facilitate that growth, as low to mid-priced devices will drive the consumer portion of the 5G eMBB use case. Below list of commercially available 5G chipsets and a few metrics for each:
Table 1: 5G SOCs by Vendor
New 5G SOCs Target Midrange Phones
February 23, 2020
One of the barriers to upgrading to 5G smartphones is the high price of the device coupled with the available coverage of the new technology. This high-price component is likely here for a while, but chip manufacturers are building plans to move their 5G technology on to chips (called 5G System on Chip (SoC)) for use in mid-level devices targeted to price-conscious consumers. Qualcomm's flagship Snapdragon 8 is powering many of the first 5G devices, and they recently announced plans to make 5G capabilities in other chips like Snapdragon 6 and 7 series, which can reduce the overall cost of the device.
- Qualcomm says its chips will support the full spectrum range in which 5G will operate, from the sub-6GHz spectrum up to the millimeter-wave spectrum. Providing this broad range of spectrum on a single chip reduces the device production costs for handset manufacturers.
- Samsung's new Exynos 980 system-on-chip (SoC) delivers high processing speeds for connections running in the sub 6GHz bands, and includes next-generation Wi-Fi (802.11ax) to provide connectivity that is complementary to 5G mobility connections on mid-price devices.
- Huawei also has a new SoC that aligns 5G capabilities with advanced processors that promise to augment AI-enabled smartphone duties.
It is becoming clear that the success path relies on the device community to facilitate that growth, as low to mid-priced devices will drive the consumer portion of the 5G eMBB use case. Below list of commercially available 5G chipsets and a few metrics for each:
Table 1: 5G SOCs by Vendor
Source: SCMR, LLC
Below is another graph showing the evolution of Cellular Technology lifecycle by Generation.
Figure 1: Five Generations of Cellular Lifecycles
Source: Counterpoint