Weekly recommended reads from Techarc - 81st Edition
Chipsets powering entry level 5G smartphones – Benchmarking the choice
The initiative of making 5G smartphones available at the entry level has already begun in India.? This is a very important enablement as it helps customers across price spectrum use the latest generation of cellular technology.? Though we might still be challenged with promising use cases for consumers, one of the requisites for use cases to develop is also the penetration level of technology, in this case 5G smartphones.
Evolving affordable 5G smartphone
Making 5G smartphones affordable isn’t new.? However, it got further impetus after Qualcomm introduced its 4s Gen 2 platform in July 2024.? Prior to this the only option available with the OEMs was from MediaTek.? With the Snapdragon addition, we started more OEMs getting interested about the segment.? Though this is not the reason, but it somewhere aligned with the thought process of OEMs wanting to foray affordable 5G smartphones.? It is very common to see when OEMs get more choice of component partners, they feel comfortable to get into a segment as it hedges their risk of relying on a single supplier.
After MediaTek and Qualcomm, we have seen UniSOC also foraying in 5G.? However, UniSOC has not been a mainline chipset supplier for many years now, especially after 4G. The game has been primarily between Qualcomm and MediaTek, besides some OEMs using their own chipsets.
Chart of the week
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