Qualcomm recently launched the Snapdragon X60 5G modem, but Apple may use it on a new iPhone model released in 2021 instead of this year's iPhone 12, according to Apple Insider.
Given that Apple reached a 5G agreement with Qualcomm in 2019 and agreed to use its modem, the upcoming iPhone 12 models are likely to use the Snapdragon X55, the report said.
As the latest 5G modem released by Qualcomm, the Snapdragon X60 is the first 5nm baseband chip that can provide download speeds of up to 7.5Gbps and upload speeds of 3Gbps.
The reduction from 7nm to 5nm helps reduce the overall package size of device manufacturers, enabling them to take up less space in smartphones while also saving energy.
This allows vendors to use the free space to add more resource capacity, add new features, or make devices lighter or smaller.
Qualcomm said that the Snapdragon X60 is the world's first 5G modem-RF system to support all key 5G frequency bands and combinations. Especially for 5G, this means that it will be able to use both sub-6GHz bandwidth and millimeter wave.
Earlier 5G chips could only communicate with either sub-6GHz or millimeter wave.
The Snapdragon X60 also supports Voice over NR, which can be used to make calls over a 5G connection without switching back to a 3G or 4G network.
The first samples of the Snapdragon X60 and the accompanying QTM535 millimeter-wave antenna module will be provided to equipment manufacturers in the first quarter of 2020. The first commercial smartphones using the latest modems are expected to be launched in early 2021.
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