Succeeding the Snapdragon X75, Qualcomm today announced the new Snapdragon X80 5G modem, which the company labels as being the first AI-powered gigabit modem in the world. During the unveiling, the San Diego firm mentioned the use of AI and how the Snapdragon X80 would leverage this feature to not only increase reception quality and accuracy but also lower power consumption. Here are all the details you should know.
Snapdragon X80 has peak download speeds of 10Gbps, which remains unchanged compared to the Snapdragon X75
Let us start with the one feature that sets apart the Snapdragon X80 from the rest of the pack. Qualcomm has stated that its latest baseband chip comes with fully integrated narrowband (NB) to non-terrestrial networks (NTN) satellite communications support. In other words, Qualcomm is taking on Apple’s Emergency SOS via Satellite feature that arrived for the iPhone 14 series in 2022, suggesting that there should be more smartphones with satellite connectivity launching later this year.
Last year, Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon Satellite during CES 2023, which was a ‘pole to pole’ emergency messaging functionality in which the company had partnered with Iridium Communications. Unfortunately, it the deal did not materialize, as the feature never made it to any Snapdragon 8 Gen 3-powered flagships. With the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, it appears that things will be a whole lot different now.
Taking advantage of AI, Qualcomm has stated that the Snapdragon X80 can smartly help extend the range using CPE for better voice and video calling over 5G NR bands. The user experience, thanks to leveraging AI, will be greatly improved as this integration offers 30 percent faster link acquisition, 60 percent faster CPE service acquisition over mmWave bands, and reduces power consumption by 10 percent while being on a mmWave 5G band.
Additionally, location accuracy is improved by 30 percent, and the time taken for cell selection is reduced by 20 percent. In downlink speeds, the Snapdragon X80 does not see any upgrade compared to the Snapdragon X75, as peak speeds remain at 10Gbps, with uplink speeds going up to 3.5Gbps. Carrier Aggregation has improved and can deliver up to 6x better performance.
The first flagships sporting the Snapdragon X80 5G modem will launch in the second half of 2024 when the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 goes official. If you want to learn more about Qualcomm’s flagship chipset that will reportedly arrive with custom Oryon cores, we recommend checking out our detailed rumor roundup for more information.
