As 5G evolves, Qualcomm CEO said there is still a lot of room to grow with 4G, mainly with gigabit LTE
SHANGHAI- 5G technology could provide a $12 trillion revenue opportunity by 2035, U.S. Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf said during a keynote presentation at Mobile World Congress Shanghai. Mollenkopf said that this figure is a potential revenue target from 5G-related goods and services globally. The automotive industry alone could generate a revenue opportunity of $2.4 trillion, he added.
According to estimates from the U.S. chipmaker, the economic impact to the 5G value chain in China, Korea and Japan by 2035 could reach $1.6 trillion, while 12.5 million jobs could be created in that timeframe in those regions.
The executive also highlighted that there is still much to be done in the 4G space, particularly with new gigabit LTE networks, which he described as paving the way to future 5G deployments.
“Gigabit LTE is here. We’re on our second generation of gigabit LTE. Twenty operators worldwide are deploying it. It’s the first step towards the enhanced mobile broadband experience of 5G,” he said.
During Mobile World Congress Shanghai, the California-based company announced new products including its Snapdragon automotive platforms, which were selected for inclusion in the next-generation of infotainment systems in Chinese car maker Geely Auto Group vehicles, which also owns Volvo.
Geely vehicles featuring Snapdragon automotive platforms are expected to be available from 2020 onward. Select Geely models are expected to use the Snapdragon 820Am variant of the platform with an integrated X12 LTE modem, supporting up to 600 Mbps downlink and 150 Mbps uplink speeds. This solution is designed to provide in-car cloud connectivity to support key features, such as over-the-air updates, navigation with real-time updates, news and local information, emergency assistance and diagnostics.
Qualcomm also launched its Snapdragon Wear 1200 platform, offering low-power NB-IoT support for wearables, targeting child, pet, elderly and fitness trackers. Snapdragon Wear 1200 is a multimode platform for targeted purpose wearable spaces where consumers are demanding a smaller size, longer battery life, smarter sensing, constant location and robust security, Qualcomm said.
The solution also features an integrated applications processor for Linux and ThreadX based applications and is scalable to support voice over LTE, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth.