What you need to know
- Qualcomm has today unveiled its brand new Snapdragon X65 modem.
- It is the first 5G modem capable of 10 Gigabit speeds.
- It could debut in the iPhone from next year.
Qualcomm has today unveiled its brand new Snapdragon X65 modem that could debut in the iPhone from next year.
The new Snapdragon X65 modem is a 5G all-in-one package capable of delivering 5G speeds of up to 10 Gigabit, a big improvement on the theoretical 7.6 Gbps of the X60 expected to feature in iPhone 13. The new X65 also features a new fourth-gen Qualcomm 545 mmWave antenna module for increased coverage, better battery efficiency, global 5G coverage (including 41 GHz), and spectrum aggregation between mmWave and Sub-6.
The X65 is a fully integrated modem-to-antenna package and includes RF front-end modules with 100MHz bandwidth for 5G coverage, more energy-efficiency, and adaptive antenna tuning power by AI.
In a settlement between Apple and Qualcomm, Cupertino revealed it plans to use Qualcomm modems in its iPhones until at least 2024. That snippet states Apple plans to launch new products with the Snapdragon X60 between June of this year and May 2022, and that Apple has committed to using the unannounced-at-the-time X65 and X70 modems through 2024. Qualcomm says it is targeting a commercial launch of the X65 (and a new X62 modem) by late 2021, and that customers (likely including Apple) are currently sampling the modems.
The new modem will deliver connectivity improvements including faster cellular data speeds, better coverage, broader all-day battery life support, and more to smartphones. It is widely expected that Qualcomm's new X60 modem will debut in the iPhone13, but there is every possibility the X65 will enter Apple products from as early as June of next year.
