We are living in the early ages of 5G wireless connectivity that promises lighting speed of data transfers. However, that does not mean that we have exhausted all innovation within the 4G realm. Well, at least Qualcomm doesn’t seem to think so.
Qualcomm has released a new LTE modem, the Snapdragon X20, and it comes with downloads speeds of up to 1.2Gbs on mobile devices. That is effectively 20% faster than the Qualcomm’s previous chip. The Snapdragon X20 is fast enough to leave landline services such as the Google Fiber biting the dust.
What are the improvements in Snapdragon X20?
The X20 manages to clock such high data speed rate thanks to a more aggressive carrier aggregation (one that bonds the carrier frequency ranges) leading to 12 unique data streams, with each stream clocking 100Mbps.
The upload speeds on X20 is also impressive, clocking at 150Mbps. Other improvements include the fact the X20 also supports the 3.5GHz airspace, meaning it is open to private LTE networks. The chip can also handle high-quality LTE phone calls on phones carrying dual SIM cards. Something quite popular in Asia and Africa.
Availability of the X20
The Snapdragon X20 chip is currently only available to device makers only, meaning you will have to be a little patient until the first wave of devices is shipped out. The first shipment of devices with this processor are expected within the Q2 of 2018.
Then again, chances of you ever actually hitting download speeds of 1.2Gbps on an actual network are pretty slim. For that to happen you must be close to a cell tower, and one that is not congested. In real life, most advanced LTE networks stop at speeds of hundreds of megabits per second. But you really should be prepping up for the breakneck 5G network said to roll out in the not so far future.
