Samsung, Qualcomm claim 5G breakthrough

Benchmarks for all forms of communications infrastructures, fixed or mobile, have for some time emphasised the importance of bi-directional performance, and in what they say sets new standards for uplink and downlink in the mobile arena, Qualcomm and Samsung Networks have announced the results of a collaboration which has seen tests of 5G technology resulting in 200 Mbps uplink peak speeds with 35 MHz of 5G spectrum and 1.3 Gbps downlink peak speeds with 75 MHz of 5G spectrum, paving the way for the future of 5G performance and flexibility.

Putting the need for the collaboration into context, the demand for increased uplink capacity has grown due to more consumers using increasingly high, uplink-heavy applications such as video uploads, video conferencing, social media sharing and cloud applications.

This achievement increases flexibility for operators with fragmented FDD spectrum assets, bringing faster upload speeds to more consumers across a multitude of markets and networks. Previously, uplink CA has been accomplished combining FDD+TDD or TDD+TDD configurations.

The tests, conducted in Samsung’s lab, were completed using Samsung’s 5G dual-band and tri-band radios supporting advanced carrier aggregation technology, and a mobile phone form-factor test device powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X75 5G Modem-RF System.

Samsung Networks has claimed leadership in driving 5G performance advancements, most recently demonstrating what it said was an industry-first 3Tx antenna transmission in a collaboration with MediaTek, using 5G Standalone Uplink 2CC Carrier Aggregation (CA) with C-Band UL MIMO and 3Tx antennas.

“Our sixth-generation modem-to-antenna solution was designed to future-ready 5G launches globally and bring numerous world-first connectivity features to support the wide range of consumer and enterprise use cases,” said Sunil Patil, vice-president of product management at Qualcomm Technologies. “We are pleased to further solidify our collaboration with Samsung to continue to set the pace for innovation and enable new experiences for users.”

“This achievement represents Samsung and Qualcomm Technologies’ ongoing efforts in pushing the boundaries of what is possible with mobile technology,” said Ji-Yun Seol, vice-president and head of product strategy, networks business at Samsung Electronics. “Samsung has been leading the way in unleashing the full power of 5G technology to meet increasing customer demands. We will continue to advance network capabilities at the highest level.”

The tests are also said to be an accomplishment marking the latest milestone to deliver on the promise of Snapdragon X75 to bring faster 5G to more users around the world. Snapdragon X75 is currently sampling to customers, with commercial devices expected to launch in the second half of 2023. 

The results of the test also come just days after Qualcomm announced a slew of deals for connectivity services based on its Snapdragon platform with leading motor companies BMW, Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes and Mahindra.

At the heart of the automotive offer is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Auto 5G Modem-RF, deployed so that manufacturers can create modern in-vehicle experiences powered by what is described as “efficient and seamless” connectivity.