Qualcomm Announces New Snapdragon 820 Processor With Quick Charge 3.0 Technology

Qualcomm today announced that it has integrated its newly upgraded X12 LTE modem into its upcoming Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, providing leading 4G LTE and Wi-Fi technologies for premium tier mobile devices. The Snapdragon 820 processor’s upgraded X12 LTE modem offers:

• LTE Advanced speeds
  • Cat 12 (up to 600 Mbps) in the downlink
  • Cat 13 (up to 150 Mbps) in the uplink
  • Up to 4×4 MIMO on one downlink LTE carrier
• Breakthrough connectivity support in unlicensed spectrum:
  • 2×2 MU-MIMO (802.11ac)
  • Multi-gigabit 802.11ad
  • LTE-U and LTE+Wi-Fi Link Aggregation (LWA)
• Comprehensive service across connection types
  • Next Gen HD Voice and Video calling over LTE and Wi-Fi
  • Call Continuity across Wi-Fi, LTE, 3G, and 2G
• RF front end innovations
  • Advanced Closed Loop Antenna Tuner
  • Qualcomm RF360^™ front end solution with CA
  • Wi-Fi/LTE antenna sharing

The Snapdragon 820 processor features advanced convergence technologies between LTE and Wi-Fi, and between licensed and unlicensed spectrum:

• LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U). The Snapdragon 820 processor is the first publicly announced processor for use in mobile devices to offer comprehensive LTE-U support when paired with the WTR3950, increasing mobile network capacity and user throughput by aggregating LTE in licensed and unlicensed bands.
• LTE and Wi-Fi Link Aggregation (LWA). LWA is another method of aggregating licensed and unlicensed spectrum. It is designed to allow mobile operators to utilize their Wi-Fi infrastructure to augment licensed LTE network capacity with unlicensed spectrum capacity.
• Next-generation Wi-Fi calling. The X12 LTE modem supports next-generation HD Voice over LTE (VoLTE) and Video over LTE (ViLTE) calling services using the IP Multimedia Subsystem, with support for call continuity between LTE and Wi-Fi. Making use of the cognitive capabilities of Qualcomm® Zeroth^™, the X12 LTE modem monitors real-time Wi-Fi quality to decide if and when to shift the call from LTE to Wi-Fi or back.
• Antenna sharing. The new modem supports several antenna sharing schemes between LTE and Wi-Fi, designed to make it easier for manufacturers to design devices with advanced technologies like LTE-U, 4×4 LTE MIMO, and 2-stream Wi-Fi, with attractive form factors and minimal performance impact on either technology.

As devices based on the Snapdragon 820 processor are expected to be available only in 1H of 2016, Microsoft’s upcoming flagship devices Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL won’t be coming with this processors. But there is a high probability that Microsoft’s next year flagship might be based on this processor.