Qualcomm's New Snap Dragon X55 5G Chip Works On All Networks

Ahead of upcoming 5G phones, Qualcomm has made a new chip to power them.

On Tuesday, the company unveiled the Snapdragon X55 5G modem, the new offering can run on not only 5G devices but also 2G, 3G, and 4G networks. While it’s not Qualcomm’s first 5G chip, the 7nm processor is the very first to work on multiple networks. Plus, the chip will allow phone makers to produce unlocked 5G handsets, similar to 4G LTE devices.

The Snapdragon X55

Qualcomm’s staff manager of product marketing, Nitin Dhiman, said in an interview:

The company announced the Snapdragon X55 5G right before the 2019 Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona.

The X55 is the descendant of the X50, which was announced a couple years ago but it was not until now that the X50 comes to phones. Different from the X55, this chip can only run on 5G networks, so phone makers have to pack along a second modem for 2G, 3G, and 4G in their offerings. However, things will change with the X55, phone players can now pack a single processor in their handsets for all networks.

The fifth generation of wireless networks pledges higher speed, broader coverage, and better responsiveness for devices. As touted, 5G can run faster by 10 to 100 times compared with the current cellular connections. It even outperforms the best physical fiber-optic cable you can install in your home. With the 5G, a device’s speeds will also get boosted, allowing download pace cut down to as low as milliseconds.

Experts hope that this technology will significantly change the way we live as well as create new industries, just like 4G LTE generated apps like Airbnb, Instagram, and Uber.

For now, the first 5G phones to come out will pack the X50, enabling download speeds up to 5GB per second. Meanwhile, over 20 players are preparing to launch more than 30 devices powered by Qualcomm’s X50, according to Dhiman.