Qualcomm, Intel announce fastest LTE modems

With the MWC just around the corner, Intel and Qualcomm have separately announced the latest LTE modems for smartphones with download speeds of a blazing 1Gbps.

The Gigabit LTE will probably only make it to daylight in devices manufactured in 2018. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X20 modem will support Cat 18 download speeds of up to 1.2Gbps and Cat 13 upload speeds of up to 150Mbps. While Qualcomm’s will be built on a 10nm FinFET process, Intel’s XMM 7650 modem will be built on a 14nm process.

Intel boasts of Cat 13 upload speeds of 225Mbps and download speeds of more than Gbps on Cat 16 support. Both modems support 5x carrier aggregation, 4x4 MIMO configurations, up to 256-QAM, and other technologies covering most LTE, CDMA, and GSM standards, putting them to use around the globe.