Qualcomm Rides LTE to Cat 10
Qualcomm announced its fifth-generation LTE modem, a Category 10 chip with global carrier aggregation. The Gobi 9x45 modem and its second-generation RF360 envelope tracker are based on 20 nm technology.
“The main new features, as compared to 9x35, is downlink increased from 350 to 450 Mbit/s, and uplink is the first major upload increase to 100 Mbit/s,” Peter Carson, senior director of marketing for Gobi, told EE Times. “This is the first chip that can fully utilize all 60 MHz in aggregated bandwidth in downlink and 40 MHz in uplink.”
The 9x45 modem supports 3x carrier aggregation in downlink and 2x in uplink, as well as all major cellular standards. Qualcomm expects up to two times faster upload speeds and up to 1.5 times faster peak download speeds compared to Cat 6 devices, as well as improved application response times and connectivity.