Qualcomm Begins Shipping Next-gen 7nm Mobile Platform To Customers

The future for the mobile market is looking mighty exciting, and Qualcomm is doing its part to make sure that’s not going to change for some time. The company this week announced that it’s begun shipping its next generation mobile platform to customers, a move that’s important for two key reasons: we’re getting a die-shrink, and opening up the path to real 5G integration.

First and foremost, the move to a 7nm process has been expected for a while, as is the move to even smaller nodes. But, considering we’re dealing with mobile devices, it could be argued that the die-shrink is even more important than it is for our notebooks and desktops. For smartphones, die-shrinks can mean not only better battery-life, but better performance, and better efficiency in general. The actual level of improvement in performance is unknown right now, but there’s a chance we’ll learn more in the months ahead.

As for 5G, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X50 modem doesn’t explicitly require the new 7nm platform, but both would make a perfect pairing for next-gen smartphones. Qualcomm and others are banking big on the 5G rollout, and it’s for great reason. Networks won’t only be more efficient in the end, we should all get better speeds and reliability at the same time.

Personally, I hope 5G accelerates the growth of reasonably priced unlimited data plans. My Koodo (Telus) plan in Canada grants me 4GB of a month, and I already consider it to be too expensive for what I get. I would definitely love to adopt Qualcomm’s all-day always-connected promise, but carriers desperately need to catch up the world over.

Qualcomm’s 10nm Snapdragon 850

According to Qualcomm president Cristiano Amon, Qualcomm is expecting that the world’s first big rollout of 5G hotspots will take place later this year, with smartphones actually able to take advantage of the tech to begin trickling out to market in the first-half of 2019. It’s not entirely clear which vendor will be the first out the door with a finalized 5G smartphone, but it goes without saying that February’s Mobile World Congress is likely to be chock-full of models bundling the latest tech.

And now we wait.