Qualcomm Launches Snapdragon X24, World's First 2Gbps LTE Modem

The Snapdragon X24 is the world's first Category 20 LTE modem, and supports download speeds of up to 2Gbps. And while most of us have marveled at the 10nm manufacturing process that is used for today's flagship smartphones, the Snapdragon X24 is built on a new 7nm FinFET process.

This is Qualcomm's third-generation gigabit-class 4G LTE modem, and doubles the download speeds of the first-generation Snapdragon X16. The Snapdragon X24 supports 7x carrier aggregation (downlink) and supports 4x4 MIMO (with up to five aggregated LTE carriers). Qualcomm has also thrown in support for Full Dimension Multi-Input Multi-Output (FD-MIMO) and Category 20 upload speeds.

We have to remember, however, that while the Snapdragon X24 is capable of reaching 2Gbps peak speeds, there has to be network support for customers to see anything close to those speeds. That’s why Qualcomm is currently working with industry partners like Ericsson, Telstra and Netgear to ensure that the infrastructure is in place to support the modem and its capabilities.

Qualcomm says that the Snapdragon X24 will begin shipping for customers during the second half of 2018.

Looking further out into the future, Qualcomm is far along in development of its Snapdragon X50 5G modem, and has lined up a number of key industry partners to support it. Trials with the 5G modem will commence later this year, with the first-generation devices capable of supporting 2Gbps speeds. Future products will support full 5Gbps speeds.