MediaTek today presented the 5G baseband chipset Helio M70 targeting the 5G smartphone market.
MediaTek, however, did not reveal the name of smartphone makers who will be using the company’s 5G chipset to make 5G smartphones.
Qualcomm, the rival of MediaTek, said China-based device makers such as Xiaomi, OnePlus, OPPO, Vivo and ZTE will launch 5G smartphones in 2019 featuring Snapdragon 855 mobile platform using the Snapdragon X50 5G NR modem.
Samsung, Korea-based smartphone supplier, announced its 5G smartphone deals with AT&T, Verizon and Sprint. Samsung will be using Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 mobile platform. In contrast, Apple will not be able to launch 5G iPhones till 2020 because it will rely on Intel for chipsets.
The Helio M70 baseband chipset is available now, and is expected to ship in the second half of 2019.
MediaTek Helio M70 is a multimode chipset with 2G/3G/4G/5G-enabled support. It supports 5G radio (NR), along with the standalone (SA) and non-standalone (NSA) network architectures, the sub-6GHz frequency band, high power user equipment (HPUE), and other key 5G technologies.
MediaTek Helio M70 baseband chipset supports LTE and 5G dual connectivity (EN-DC) while also ensuring that mobile devices are backward compatible with 4G/3G/2G in the absence of 5G networks.
“With the commercialization of the first 5G baseband chipset, Helio M70, consumers will be able to enjoy the exciting 5G experience from a mature and complete solution,” said TL Lee, general manager of MediaTek Wireless Communications Division.
MediaTek has partnered with China Mobile, Huawei, Nokia, NTT DOCOMO and others to establish a 5G industry ecosystem.
Qualcomm said the Snapdragon 855 mobile platform is the world’s first commercial mobile platform supporting multi-gigabit 5G, AI and immersive extended reality (XR) to meet the demand of 5G consumers in 2019.
Qualcomm will be supplying Snapdragon 855 mobile platform, Snapdragon X50 5G modem and Qualcomm QTM052 mmWave antenna modules with RF transceiver, RF front-end and antenna elements to 5G smartphone companies.
Baburajan K
