American chipmaker Qualcomm has unveiled its latest 5G modem for smartphones called the Snapdragon X70. As per the company, the modem comes with “the world’s first 5G AI processor integrated in a 5G Modem-RF System” which should help boost the average download and uplink speeds on mmWave and sub-6GHz bands. The modem can reach 10 Gigabit 5G peak download speed, a peak 3.5Gbps upload speed and is 60% more power-efficient owing to the 5G PowerSave Gen 3 technology, the company claimed in a press release.
As per Qualcomm, the Snapdragon X70 modem includes the Qualcomm 5G AI Suite, Qualcomm 5G Ultra-Low Latency Suite and 4X carrier aggregation to help it achieve faster 5G speed and low latency. The 5G AI Suite includes AI-based channel state feedback and optimisation, AI-based mmWave beam management, AI-based network selection and Qualcomm AI-Enhanced Signal Boost antenna tuning. The modem comes with support for global 5G multi-SIM and Dual-SIM Dual Active.
The Snapdragon X70 modem is expected to be rolled out for the 5G-enabled devices by the end of this year. There have been rumours about the X70 modem being used in future iPhones but there hasn’t been any confirmation about the same. Since Apple has committed to using the X65 and X70 modems in products launched between June 1, 2022 and May 31, 2024, as per a 2022 agreement between the two companies, the X65 and the X70 may yet be used for the future iPhones.
Also, Apple is said to be working on its own 5G modem for the 2023 iPhone models, so the tech giant’s plans for using the X70 on all its devices look slim. However, it may be the case that Apple still tries to include the X70 modem in select regions and use its own modem in others.
