One of the selling points of the Snapdragon 835 mobile platform is its Snapdragon X16 LTE modem that offers download speeds of up to 1Gbps. A few mobile operators around the world are already planning to upgrade their networks to support the technology. However, Qualcomm isn’t the only chip maker to offer gigabit download speeds. Samsung’s Exynos 8895 also offers it. Its Cat.16 LTE modem not only supports 1Gbps downloads but is also the industry’s first with 5CA (carrier aggregation). The Snapdragon X16 is 4CA.
Today, Samsung decided to set another record with a new Cat.18 LTE modem that offers 6CA with the ability to achieve download speeds of up to 1.2Gbps!!!
The new LTE modem was developed in partnership with Anritsu, a telecommunication measuring instrument provider. The modem offers a 20% increase in performance over the Cat.16 modem and is expected to be used for its next generation chips. Samsung says the increase speed should allow “users to download a full-length movie in HD resolution within 10 seconds”. It will also result in smoother video calls and live broadcasting.
In addition to the improved speeds, the modem also supports 4×4 MIMO and higher-order 256 QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) scheme.
Speaking at the event was Woonhaing Hur, Vice President of System LSI Protocol Development at Samsung Electronics, who said an increase in high-quality online content services has led to a demand for high-performance LTE modems.
READ MORE: Samsung Galaxy S8 Active Full Specs Leak Online
Samsung is expected to begin mass production of the mobile chips that will use the Cat.18 LTE modem by the end of the year. So it is likely that it appears in the Galaxy S9 next year.
(Source)
