Samsung's chip-making arm bagged a huge order last year to manufacture the Snapdragon 888 processor using the 5nm process. The South Korean company now seems to have won another order from Qualcomm, and it appears that Samsung would soon be ready with its more advanced fabrication process.
Qualcomm announced two new 5G modems—Snapdragon X62 and Snapdragon X65—yesterday, and they are built using a 4nm process. While the company has not revealed who will manufacture the new 5G chips, the folks over at AnandTech believe that they are fabricated using Samsung's 4nm (4LPE) process. It could be an improved version of the current 5nm (5LPE) process.
The Snapdragon X65 is the world's first 5G modem that can hit download speeds of up to 10Gbps. Qualcomm has increased the number of frequency bands and bandwidth that can be used in a smartphone. In the sub-6GHz frequency range, the bandwidth has been increased from 200MHz to 300MHz, a 50% improvement in aggregation. In the mmWave frequency range, the bandwidth has been increased from 800MHz to 1000MHz, and it supports the TDD 41GHz n259 band.
The Snapdragon X62 is a trimmed down version of the Snapdragon X65 modem. Its sub-6GHz spectrum bandwidth is 120MHz and mmWave bandwidth is 300MHz across four carriers. This 5G modem is targeted to be used in more affordable smartphones. Both new 5G modems are currently being tested by brands, and we can expect them to appear in smartphones later this year.
