Global Mobile Operators Select Qualcomm Snapdragon X50 5G Modem for Mobile 5G NR Trials in 2018

Move over 4G there’s a New Sheriff in Town: Mobile 5G

2018 is the year when the world opens its eyes to mobile 5G connectivity. Qualcomm is all set to showcase their Snapdragon X50 5G NR modem. Qualcomm has tied up with a number of OEMs to bring mobile 5G network to the world, with the first smartphone having the Snapdragon X50 5G NR mobile 5G network coming out in the first half of 2019. Chinese brand Vivo has also said that consumers can expect the first mobile 5G smartphone somewhere next year.

Some of the major mobile phone OEMs partnering with Qualcomm in their Snapdragon X50 5G modem trials are Xiaomi, Global, Nokia, Oppo, HTC, ZTE, LG and HMD. Notably absent from this list, are the companies- Samsung, Apple and Huawei, accounting for over 50% of the world’s smartphone market. Most of these names signing up for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X50 5G modem have major presence in Asia rather than the US. There’s a more than possible chance that Asia maybe the first to see the likes of mobile 5G.

OEMs partnering with Qualcomm for mobile 5G: 

Fujitsu, Novatel wireless, Netgear, Sharp, WNC, Telit, Wingtech and NetComm Wireless are some of the other OEMs to sign up for mobile 5G with Qualcomm.

Devices manufactured by these OEMs will function at bandwidths of 6GHz and millimeter wavelength spectrum bands and will supposedly come out in 2019.

Other devices featuring Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X50 5G Modem with mobile 5G:

Other than OEMs featuring Snapdragon X50 5G modem, other devices to have mobile 5G are Always Connected PCs, VR Headsets and AR Headsets and Extended Reality Headsets. The speeds of this mobile 5G network are never seen before with speeds reaching 5Gbps and offering faster downloads, faster browsing speeds, better streaming from apps and instant cloud access on smart phones. The snapdragon X50 5G modem is also supposed to offer low latency in Always Connected PCs and ultra-low latency in HMDs.

The Qualcomm snapdragon X50 5G modem is going to be compatible with both 4G and mobile 5G networks.

Network Operators pairing up with Qualcomm on the mobile 5G Journey: 

Many network operators are also partnering up with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X50 5G network for mobile 5G. Some of the more prominent names are AT&T, Sprint China Telecom, British Telecom, China Unicom, China Mobile, NTT DOCOMO, Verizon, Orange, Telstra and Singtel besides others.
The aim is to combine Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X50 5G modem with Smartphone and other device’s designs that are compatible with mobile 5G and which are also compliant with mobile 5G standards. After that smartphones and other devices supporting mobile 5G will go in for commercialization.

Showcasing the Qualcomm Snapdragon X50 5G modem: 

Qualcomm is all set to showcase mobile 5G with their Snapdragon X50 5G modem in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress. Qualcomm has a booth all set up with their mobile 5G modem delivering Speeds of several gigabytes per second.

A HTC headset with mobile 5G connectivity was recently launched at an industry event in Taiwan.

Qualcomm's Universal Media Streaming Comes To Soundcloud

The mobile chip constructor company Qualcomm has been quite steady with their footsteps in the competitive market of gadgets. The start of this New Year has been no different for the company Qualcomm; rather it is proving to be better considering their previous records. The Qualcomm’s universal media streaming for AllPlay devices has not been much of a success compared to their fellow technologies like DLNA, Apple’s Airplay etc., but a recent move made by the company might earn them good dividends.
Briefing

The Qualcomm’s universal media streaming is all set to extend their range of access across SoundCloud and Tidal devices that will let you use AllPlay as well. The company’s recent unveiling of such new set of plans seems promising and will definitely gain them enough momentum in the gadget market. Later this year, the Tidal and SoundCloud have both promised to extend their support to the company’s universal media streaming which will enable the users to hear to remixes, pristine-sounding songs and podcasts available at large range of networked stereos and speakers.

Special Mention

Meanwhile, there is good news for Korean and Chinese listeners, as they will be delighted to see that QQ music and KT music also kept on deck.

USP of the Qualcomm’s Universal media streaming 

The universal media streaming of the mobile chip maker company is expected to deliver a platform of simple and convenient streaming of media universally. And with its vision of having floating partners alongside them and extending their app program, will definitely fulfil the expectations. You will be able to stream in AllPlay, SoundCloud and Tidal devices through several music (audio and video) services which even include Spotify. You can have your albums blasting on every system in the house of yours, if you want. To be straight, both Monster’s SoundStage speakers and Fon’s Gramophone media hub will take your AllPlay, SoundCloud and Tidal tunes.

Its Competitions 

There are a lot of similar gears in the market that promises to match the required services. The first WiFi speaker of the House of Marley, the One Foundation (that can take your AllPlay tunes), Bayan Audio, Goodmans, OptomaNuforce, Inkel/Sherwood, SVS, TCL, TP-link and many more, that are vowing to match each other’s services throughout the year 2015.

However the list of partners that have extended their support can be trusted upon, as it is highly improbable that any of them will ditch by holding back their existing services or devices.

By the end of this year, one can definitely expect some more apps to work with the Qualcomm’s media streaming and in the near future as well, before the wave of such supporting software applications reach the wild. But one feels that it will not take much longer time before all of our music applications have an in built audio sharing ability. Although it is big enough that one should not have much problem in streaming their favourite music on devices they are happy using.