The world’s leading designer of chipsets for wireless devices has updated its portfolio with the launch of two new integrated chipsets: the Snapdragon 630 and Snapdragon 660. The new chips can process faster, charge faster and stay charged for longer than their predecessors. Both solutions have integrated Wi-Fi and power management, and both will feature Qualcomm’s X12 LTE modem.
Both chipsets pair Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X12 LTE Modem with the new SDR660 RF transceiver. The company said users will see peak downlink data rates of 600 megabits per second. The Snapdragon 660 supports 2×2 multi-user multiple input multiple output for cellular, as well as 802.11ac Wi-Fi. Apple used the X12 modem in the iPhone 7 models developed for Verizon Wireless and Sprint. The iPhone maker was accused of throttling the speed of that modem in order to make sure those iPhones were not faster than those running on other networks.
Qualcomm said the new Snapdragon solutions will offer double the data throughput of its previous generation of chips, and will decrease download power consumption by up to 60%. The company said coverage will improve in-building coverage, especially in structures with walls that are hard for signals to penetrate.
Both platforms include advanced RF front-end support with Qualcomm’s adaptive antenna tuning with carrier aggregation, designed to dynamically optimize signal quality in varying user conditions for wide network coverage and more consistent data and voice experience. The chips also leverage envelope tracking technology and support high-power user equipment, a special class of LTE user equipment that transmits at higher power than standard LTE devices. Both platforms also feature Bluetooth 5 support, which Qualcomm says will double the amount of data that devices can transfer compared to the previous iteration.
The new Snapdragon chipsets also include Qualcomm’s Hexagon digital signal processor to support sensors that constantly collect and process information from the environment and other devices. This enables All-Ways Aware technology, which will probably work best on Android smartphones because it is integrated with Google’s awareness application programming interface.
Faster connectivity and contextual awareness are just two of the features that Qualcomm is adding to its mobile platform with this update. The other improvements include improved photographic image quality, faster processing, machine learning support, better audiovisual processing, better graphics support, longer battery life, and hardware-based security.
Qualcomm said the Snapdragon 660 is now shipping and the Snapdragon 630 will begin shipping towards the end of this month.
