Some 2020 smartphone flagships might not have 5G, and that's a good thing

[Redaktion]

Qualcomm is separating their 5G modem from their flagship SoC, which many are calling a mistake. However, this change almost exclusively benefits everyone, despite what other reports might say.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Some-2020-smartphone-flagships-might-not-have-5G-and-that-s-a-good-thing.448817.0.html

[S.Yu]

The whole thing sounds wrong in many ways.

>During downloads, your smartphone's processor will be doing a bit of work along side the modem. The added heat from the processor could make the 5G modem throttle faster

This suggests one thing: that the modem is incredibly inefficient, so as to reach anywhere near throttling when mmWave could currently only feed it what, 700Mbps? That's below 1/10 the theoretical performance? Is it gonna catch fire at 10Gbps?

>smartphone manufacturers can design systems to keep these chips cool

As far as I can tell the performance of vapor chambers in smartphones is largely limited by the internal space devoted to that chamber, not its surface area for heat exchange with the chip(s). They rather need more heat exchange with the chassis.

>The amount of added heat from the chip due to this separation would be negligible

Rather the power efficiency of the I/O block would be decreased by about a magnitude. How much that translates into Wh which is the only metric that matters to the battery depends on the specific I/O load of course.

>future mid-end phones using this SoC could use a more efficient modem

Pairing a flagship SoC with a midrange modem sounds like a niche in a niche.

>Downloading the same amount of data with LTE would require more power over a longer period of time than with a 5G modem

Sounds like lab results. Any 5G except the "very low" bands will experience poor signal due to the nature of EM radiation at that frequency. Unless you're standing right next to a cell tower, this will not stand.

>Despite having a separate modem, the iPhone 11 Pro operates (on average) about 13% more power efficiently than the Galaxy S10

Too many variables. Different screen, different storage technology, different amount of RAM to run, and most importantly, A55 is a very dated piece of tech compared to Apple's small cores which are vastly superior.

>it probably won't be Qualcomm's fault
All who eye a piece of the 5G pie share the blame.

>Qualcomm sells their Snapdragon 865 without a modem
This had better be substantiated. Last time I read news on this, SD865 was sold in a bundle with X55, not separately. The conclusions was that it would force 5G upon all flagships planning to use the 865 leaving consumers no choice but to pay.

[Sprewell]

Historically, these devices typically haven't used Qualcomm's flagship processors due to the inclusion of the unnecessary modem. Since Qualcomm sells their Snapdragon 865 without a modem, manufacturers can use the chip without the modem functionality. This not only brings their flagship performance to more devices, but it increases their profits as a whole. It's unlikely Qualcomm is profiting by "double charging" for the modem and SoC.

It's unclear what you're trying to say here. Many others are reporting otherwise (www.anandtech.com/show/15178/qualcomm-announces-snapdragon-865-and-765-5g-for-all-in-2020-all-the-details), are you saying they are lying?

the most important fact about the new combination is that the Snapdragon 865 SoC is exclusively tied to the X55 modem. This means that Qualcomm is selling the 865 SoC only as a pair with the X55 modem, and they do not offer support with any past 4G modem. In theory vendors could use another modem, but since they only sell the new platform as a pair anyway, it would make very little sense for anybody to do this.

[Loki Rautio]

Hi, thanks for the input!

Rather the power efficiency of the I/O block would be decreased by about a magnitude. How much that translates into Wh which is the only metric that matters to the battery depends on the specific I/O load of course.

I get this concern, but that's effectively what I did say in the article. This particular section was about heat, so I did mention the heat concern. I went over the power consumption later.

Pairing a flagship SoC with a midrange modem sounds like a niche in a niche.

That's not exactly what I meant. The idea is your pairing an old "flagship" SoC with a "current" (future) generation modem, which could potentially bring better battery life (more efficient modems)

Sounds like lab results. Any 5G except the "very low" bands will experience poor signal due to the nature of EM radiation at that frequency. Unless you're standing right next to a cell tower, this will not stand.

Based on the data I reviewed for the article, as far as I could tell, 5G under optimal conditions would outperform LTE under optimal conditions. That data was fairly limited, so this article might need an update once some new info comes out about this.

>Despite having a separate modem, the iPhone 11 Pro operates (on average) about 13% more power efficiently than the Galaxy S10

Too many variables. Different screen, different storage technology, different amount of RAM to run, and most importantly, A55 is a very dated piece of tech compared to Apple's small cores which are vastly superior.

There are way too many variables. Ultimately, the point is that it really isn't going to affect battery too much, not realistically. If it does, we'll see that in benchmarks, but there's no real evidence that suggests it would be problematic.

>Qualcomm sells their Snapdragon 865 without a modem
This had better be substantiated. Last time I read news on this, SD865 was sold in a bundle with X55, not separately. The conclusions was that it would force 5G upon all flagships planning to use the 865 leaving consumers no choice but to pay.

It's unclear what you're trying to say here. Many others are reporting otherwise (www.anandtech.com/show/15178/qualcomm-announces-snapdragon-865-and-765-5g-for-all-in-2020-all-the-details), are you saying they are lying?

--- snipped ---
After reviewing additional information I found during further research, I've updated the article to reflect this concern. I wasn't able to find information contradicting this concern, so I'm going to assume that the modem is, in fact, a mandatory paring.

[danwat1234]

Every article I have read about the Snapdragon 865 has said that the 5G modem is mandatory. This is the first I've heard of it possibly being optional.

[ProDigit]

Might be beneficial for laptops, tablets and netbooks, or even media TV's, that usually come without these chips.
Also gives less the appearance someone could potentially be spying on you 24/7.
Although most tensor cores and AI built in Qualcomm chips are ALWAYS listening to you. Receiving audio, converting it to compressed text format, over the internet to servers, that analyze what you said, and either gets you in touch with ads, or the FBI, depending on the nature of your private conversation...

[ak]

how many wrong information can you find in 1 article? please research how soc works

[Ddule]

Apple needs a separate 5G modem, so that's the reason why they have it separate for now.