Both Huawei and Qualcomm have developed new-age 5G modems for the smartphone market. However, Huawei’s 7nm Balong 5000 modem has an edge over Qualcomm’s existing 10nm X50 modem as it supports both NSA (Non-standalone) and SA (Standalone) networks. And it looks like a new Chinese company will join the party later this year as ZTE’s executive confirms that its self-developed 5G chip will be available in the second half of the year.

ZTE’s CEO, Xu Ziyang, had revealed late last month that the company was working on a 7nm based 5G chipset. But recently, ZTE’s Senior VP and Chief Strategy Officer, Wang Xiang confirmed that the 7nm based 5G chipset will be available later this year. Unfortunately, we don’t have any details about its specifications.

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He further added that 5G smartphones are costlier than 4G counterparts because it uses 50% more antennas. Another reason is that the 5G chips haven’t been mass-produced, so their costs are still pretty high. But he believes that the price of 5G smartphones will come close to 4G ones by the second half of next year.

ZTE relies on Qualcomm chipsets for its smartphones. It isn’t a big enough player in the smartphone industry to justify a self-developed 5G chipset for smartphones. So, it’s likely that the new 5G chip is targeted at CPE and IoT products.

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(Via)

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