Qualcomm Claims World's First 5G mmWave Data Connection

Qualcomm Technologies, on Monday announced that the company completed the world’s first 5G mmWave data connection with support for 200 MHz carrier bandwidth. 

This milestone was powered by the Snapdragon X65 5G Modem-RF System announced in May, which includes new mmWave capabilities for global expansion with support for wider 200 MHz carrier bandwidth in the mmWave spectrum and enabling Standalone (SA) mode services over mmWave.

This milestone was achieved using a smartphone form-factor test device powered by the flagship Snapdragon X65, and by using Keysight Technologies’ 5G Network Emulation Solution, which leverages the company’s UXM 5G Wireless Test Platform to flexibly support a wide range of spectrum band requirements.

This is another world-first breakthrough for Snapdragon X65, following the demonstration of this Modem-RF System breaking cellular speeds records with more than 10 Gbps at MWC Barcelona 2021. This milestone is made possible by the software-upgradable architecture of Snapdragon X65, allowing for enhancements and expandability across 5G segments to enable new forthcoming features, capabilities, and rapid rollout of the new 3GPP Release 16. The enhancements are especially key as 5G expands globally, including the anticipated rollout of ultra-fast 5G mmWave in China and other regions, and extends into other verticals such as compute, industrial IoT and fixed wireless access.

Snapdragon X65 is Qualcomm Technologies’ 4th generation 5G mmWave Modem-RF System for phones, mobile broadband, compute, XR, industrial IoT, 5G private networks and fixed wireless access – while most competitors have not commercially shipped their first mmWave solution. Commercial mobile devices based on these Modem-RF solutions are expected to launch by late 2021.