Qualcomm has taken advantage of its 4G/5G Summit in Hong Kong to announce the first devices and networks using its 1 Gigabit Snapdragon X16 LTE modem. The company has partnered with Telstra, Ericsson and Netgear to bring products and networks to market using the sixth-generation discrete LTE multimode chipset unveiled in February.
The Netgear Mobile Router MR1100 is described as the first consumer end device capable of reaching LTE download speeds up to 1 Gbps. It uses Telstra’s new Gigabit Class LTE network enabled by Ericsson to deliver "fibre-like download speeds wirelessly", said Qualcomm. The chip maker added that Telstra will now complete comprehensive device, network and user testing ahead of commercial launch in the coming months.
Qualcomm said the 1 Gbps download speeds are achieved through a combination of 3x carrier aggregation, 4x4 MIMO on two aggregated carriers plus 2x2 MIMO on the third carrier, and 256-QAM higher order modulation. Unveiled earlier this year, the Snapdragon X16 LTE modem is built on a 14nm FinFET process and the Qualcomm WTR5975 RF Transceiver. The company also carried out a live demonstration of the 1 Gbps LTE device and network at the 4G/5G Summit.
