Before Samsung filled the airwaves with the Galaxy S9 and S9+, it was Huawei that hold the record for Gigabit LTE download speeds possible on a commercial phone with the Mate 10 series, and their homebrew Cat. 18 modem that could hit up to 1.2Gbps speeds. Thanks to their Snapdragon 845 chipset, however, the Galaxy S9 and S9+ sport Qualcomm’s X20 Gigabit LTE modem that can also top
Hitting Gigabit LTE speeds with the newest phone from the world’s largest Android maker, and doing it on a commercial network, is something else altogether, and that’s precisely what the Galaxy S9 was able to do. Telstra in Australia ran a test with Samsung’s latest and greatest, and topped out at the whopping 1.03 Gbps. Granted, the carrier has rolled out such souped-up 4G LTE (or, should we call it pre-5G) coverage only in big cities, but that’s exactly where you might need it the most. According to Kevin Teoh, Telstra’s Head of Mobile:
Cracking the magic gigabit mark on smartphones is an exciting milestone. As smartphones evolve and we move into the 5G era there will be a new raft of sophisticated features that are enabled by reliably fast data speeds. High-quality augmented reality, virtual personal assistants that anticipate needs and virtual doctors that monitor vital signs are just some of the technologies that are on the horizon.
The carrier isn’t stopping here, though, and is rolling out 2Gbps network in “select high traffic areas.” These are speeds, however, that will likely have to wait for the Galaxy S10, and its Snapdragon 855 chipset with X24 modem, made with the 7nm process. Still, 1.2Gbps is plenty, and is already raising the overall averages of Telstra’s download speeds, so, while we wait for the 5G networks to spread their wings, the Galaxy S9 will be at the forefront of the blazing fast LTE capabilities.
