Qualcomm recently introduced their Snapdragon 888 chip. This new silicon combines the processor and a 5G radio into one integrated package. This integration is right in Qualcomm’s wheelhouse, however with 5G this is a real game changer. While this is silicon designed for smartphones, its design becomes a platform that will pave the way for chips that will be embedded in all sorts of IoT and smart devices in the not so distant future. The following article does a good job of providing more details on how it works and what the future uses will be.
The chip that will power most high-end 5G phones next year is here: the QualcommSnapdragon 888. And for the first time in its ultra high-end lineup, Qualcomm has integrated its 5G modem on the same chip as the brains, AI and other processor features, likely giving 5G phones a boost in battery life.
Smartphones need a lot of components to operate, but two key parts that make a phone a phone are the application processor that acts as the brains of a device and a modem that connects it to a mobile network. The first 5G devices needed standalone modems that worked alongside the main computing processor. That was because 5G technology was so new, it was too difficult to combine it with the brains.
