Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

Qualcomm is bringing 5G chipsets to ultra-low-cost smartphones

Christian de Looper
By

Qualcomm is finally making 5G accessible across almost all smartphone price ranges. The company has announced its plans to launch a Snapdragon 4-series chipset that supports 5G next year. Phones with 4-series chips, like the Moto E7 Plus, generally come in at under $200.

The Snapdragon 4 series is specifically aimed at international markets, and the new chip will ideally support some of the first 5G phones accessible in those markets. According to Qualcomm, 5G networks are now available in 35 countries, and that number is likely to grow over the next few years.

Recommended Videos

“Qualcomm continues to pave the way for 5G commercialization at scale, and the expansion of 5G into our Snapdragon 4-series is expected to address regions that currently have approximately 3.5 billion smartphone users combined,” said Cristiano Amon, president of Qualcomm, in a press release time to coincide with the IFA show in Berlin. “The Snapdragon 4-series 5G Mobile Platform is designed to exceed expectations for the mass-market segment by bringing an assortment of predominately high- and mid-tier features to a broader audience. It will deliver on the promise of making 5G accessible to all smartphone users.”

Related

The new chip is likely to be used by at least a few companies in regions like India and China. Companies like Motorola, Oppo, and Xiaomi have all launched 4-series devices over the past few years, and may be among the first to adopt the new 5G chip.

Thankfully, we won’t have to wait long to see devices with the chip. Qualcomm will launch the platform in early 2021, and says that it expects phones featuring the chipset to launch in the first quarter.

Of course, launching 5G-compatible phones is really only one piece of the 5G puzzle. While 5G is becoming a little more common in the U.S., networks in countries like India still have yet to deploy widespread coverage. Even in the U.S., it’s still not necessarily worth buying a phone for its 5G support alone — though most flagship devices these days support the new network.

We’ll have to wait and see how many devices actually make use of the new chipset, and whether or not it will help drive 5G adoption. With the new chipset, Qualcomm now integrates 5G into its 8-series, 7-series, 6-series, and 4-series lines of phones.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Christian de Looper
Christian de Looper
Contributor
Christian’s interest in technology began as a child in Australia, when he stumbled upon a computer at a garage sale that he…
Moto G Power 5G adds a flagship feature to a budget phone
Render of the Motorola Moto G Power 5G in a white color against a light purple background.

Motorola may be making a play for the flagship market with the Motorola Edge 40 Pro, but budget phones are what the American monolith is best known for. While it won't be making as many waves as the latest Samsung phone or Apple iPhone launch, the newest iteration of the Moto G is always something worth paying attention to, as Motorola is a true veteran of the space and knows what makes an excellent cheap device.

Best of all, this new Moto G comes at a time when budget phone enthusiasts have never had it so good. Previously premium features are filtering down into lower-priced devices, without altering that sweet low price or the features everyone loves. That's exactly what's happening with the new Motorola Moto G Power 5G, which includes a 50-megapixel main camera lens, a larger amount of storage, and a big screen with a 120Hz refresh rate. With the big 5,000mAh battery the G Power range is known for, this could be the $300 phone to grab if you love a budget bargain.
Super-smooth motion

Read more
Here’s how fast 5G on your Samsung Galaxy S23 really is
Samsung Galaxy S23 cameras against greenery

If you’ve been on the fence about picking up one of the latest Galaxy S23 phones, some new research from Ookla may help tip the scales in Samsung’s favor.

In a new speed test report, Ookla tcompared the 5G performance specs of the Galaxy S23 models to last year’s Galaxy S22 in several countries — with some surprising results across the board.
A worthwhile 5G upgrade

Read more
What is 5G UW? The real meaning behind the icon on your phone
Woman holding up smartphone with speed test results on Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband network.

You've probably noticed that there's been much more hype around 5G than for any of the wireless technologies that came before. Some of that is just marketing, of course; we are living in an increasingly connected era, and there are far more people toting smartphones now than there were in 2012 when 4G/LTE was just beginning to go mainstream. However, it's also not an exaggeration to say that with considerably faster speeds and the ability to handle many more devices, 5G is a much bigger step into the next stage of global connectivity. You've also probably noticed it yourself with a "5G UW" icon at the top of your phone.

As with most new technologies, 5G comes with some new challenges for both carriers and consumers. One of the most significant of these has been working out the best way to deploy 5G services across the much wider range of frequencies that it's capable of operating on. This wasn't nearly as significant a problem in the days of 3G and 4G/LTE services, which all operated in a much narrower range of radio spectrum.

Read more