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Qualcomm 855 Plus Creates 5G Design Challenges for OEMs 
December 15, 2019
 
In 2019, most Android high-end flagships used the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC or slightly overclocked 855 Plus, the latest in Qualcomm SoC hardware which includes CPU and GPU processors, image processing, 4G LTE, and just about everything else. SoC’s are selected balancing performance versus cost and efficiency, and Qualcomm is really the only option for maximum performance, while competitor 
 
Table 1: 2019 5G Smartphone Prices and Panel Size

Source: GSMArena

Qualcomm didn’t bundle its modem silicon onto the 865 chip, as it has done with its previous processors, as it explained was a better solution back in 2012, and as it has done with its new Snapdragon 765G processor. 

• In 2020, the next-gen Snapdragon 865 is, in theory, the likely and logical new chip: Qualcomm says it is 25% faster, it sports new camera features, better AI-boosting silicon, and improves peak download speeds from 5 to 7.6Gbps, but the modem is a 2nd chip, the X55.
  • Ars Technica says: “...putting the 5G and 4G on a giant extra chip means smartphones are going to use way more power, no matter which cell network you're connected to. When 5G networks are only going to be in their infancy in 2020, this sounds like an across-the-board downgrade to me.”
  • The need for the “giant extra chip” is entirely because of 5G requirements: the top-of-the-line processor evidently needs more room, and Qualcomm couldn’t pack the modem in with it, even though it could with the 765G.
  • When 4G was introduced, the same existed. In supporting the take-up of 4G, the company’s Snapdragon S2 had an extra modem chip. Many flagship phones during this time - memorably including the Snapdragon-powered HTC Thunderbolt - suffered from battery issues.
• Qualcomm leaves many Android manufacturers with no choice – to get the highest-end processor on the market, there are compromises they can’t avoid.
  •  But Qualcomm’s Cristiano Amon  indicated that the Snapdragon 865 and X55 modem pairing is more efficient at 4G LTE than the Snapdragon 855’s integrated X24 modem. Amon explained that “the architecture has not compromised battery life” and the new solution actually offers a better day of 4G use than its predecessor. 
  • Using an external modem won’t have a negative impact on battery life when you’re in an area with only 4G coverage.”

Access to 5G in major population centers will be limited until late 2020 at the earliest, so battery life problems and hot devices being thermally throttled might not eventuate. But the 865 isn’t going to be the default option as the first new device to sport this latest range of processors, the “affordable flagship” Redmi K30 5G took the 765G SoC option, despite the performance gap to the 865. That may be a sign of things to come, or manufacturers might raise battery capacities and overall phone sizes again to compensate.
“As for when we’ll see an 800-series Snapdragon with an integrated modem? Apparently, we’ll have to return to Maui next year to find out. It will be 2021 before smartphones offer both premium-tier 5G performance with the area and energy benefits of an integrated chip.”
 
Samsung Display has been and will continue to be the beneficiary of the transition to 5G, citing the transition to 5G is a stimulus for their small panel OLED business in 2020.   Of the 28 5G smartphones that have been announced and/or released this year, 23 had OLED displays (82.1%), and that includes a number of foldable 5G devices that would have to be OLED. There were no LCD 5G phones released at any time this year other than in December, but as 5G spins down to the mid-range five of the seven 5G phones released or expected to be released in December were LCD and two OLED.  
  
Much 5G smartphone demand will come from China and South Korea, where deployment is moving relatively quickly and carriers are devising data plans that are quite flexible, but even with a potential Apple 5G entry in 2020, such a release would likely come late in the year, and while it would certainly be a factor in the LCD/OLED 5G question, it would have its biggest impact in 2021.  5G is expected to modestly increase smartphone shipments in 2020, with OLED capturing the lion’s share, especially early in the year when high-end 5G smartphones are released at CES or Mobile World Congress, but LCD based 5G phones should take greater share share as the year develops and more extensive 5G build outs occur.