Later this year, probably during the last quarter, we will meet the successor of Qualcomm’s current high-end processor. According to leaks, this would take by code nameSM8250. Its commercial name would end up being that of Qualcomm Snapdragon 865. The company has already revealed that its next most powerful SoC will come with a built-in 5G modem.
Apart from the 5G modem data, Qualcomm has not revealed more details about this future chip. However, a recent leak indicates that this Snapdragon 865 will also have an external 5G modem. The leak comes from Roland Quandt ( @rquandt on Twitter) who has credibility.
With the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 version of internally integrated modem, manufacturers will have several advantages. These will have additional space to add larger batteries, a better cooling system or any other element they can incorporate. The Snapdragon 865 with the integrated 5G modem would be the preferred variant for certain markets. For example, countries such as the United States and South Korea, where the adoption of 5G will be greater.
Meanwhile, in other countries where 5G penetration will be lower, manufacturers can launch their star smartphones with the latest Snapdragon but without the 5G modem making it cheaper. The objective makes sense since it does not help the consumer to have to pay more for the integration of a 5G modem that will be unable to use because it will not have the necessary networks available for it.
In the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, we have the Snapdragon X50 5G modem present. In the Snapdragon 865 with 5G, we will have integrated the most recent Snapdragon X55 5G modem. Qualcomm has already confirmed that the next generation of Snapdragon 5G will use the second generation sub-6 GHz and mmWave antenna modules. It will also have the new PowerSave 5G technology. The latter serves to increase the battery life of 5G smartphones. This will result in something key to the use of 5G since browsing through these networks consumes more battery than by using 4G
integrated 5G modem.
