Qualcomm is delivering 5G to a whole new class of mobile devices with the Snapdragon X35, a new chip that bridges the gap between smartphones and IoT devices
Qualcomm is poised to deliver 5G capabilities to a whole new class of mobile devices with a new modem chip that bridges the gap between today’s best smartphones and much lower-bandwidth devices like payment terminals and home accessories.
Announced today, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X35 5G Modem-RF system is the world’s first to adopt NR-Light, a new 5G standard for midtier devices that don’t require the power and performance of a 5G-capable smartphone or tablet — but can still take advantage of the lower latency and power consumption offered by 5G technology.
NR-Light, also known as “RedCap” (reduced capability), is a new 5G platform that was finalized last year to fill the void that existed between high-bandwidth 5G chips and radios designed to drive ultrafast mmWave and aggregated sub-6 speeds, such as Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X70, and extremely low-bandwidth Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
The 5G radios used in cell phones consume quite a bit of power. While they arguably don’t use much more than the 4G/LTE radios that came before, the issue of lower-power LTE chips was solved over six years ago — around the time the Samsung Gear S3 and Apple Watch Series 3 both showed up to take wearable cellular devices mainstream.
That was about six years after 4G/LTE smartphones showed up, so Qualcomm is a bit ahead of the game with the Snapdragon X35. Nevertheless, like most new Qualcomm chips, it will take a while to find its way into consumer devices; the company says not to expect the first of these to show up until early next year.
