It is confirmed that Samsung Electronics’ System LSI Business Department recently commercialized 2G CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) modem technology. It had been really difficult for other businesses to secure 2G CDMA technology as Qualcomm secured relevant fundamental technologies. By securing 2G technology, Samsung Electronics now has competitive edge that comes close to that of Qualcomm and it is expected to have even competitions with Qualcomm within 5G markets that are seen as next battlefields.
“We installed 2G CDMA modem technology into Exynos 7872 AP, which was released last year, for the first time.” said a representative for Samsung Electronics’ System LSI Business Department in Barcelona where MWC 2018 is being held. “We are going to apply this technology to entire products from premium products to lower-end products starting from this year.”
“Fact that we have secured entire telecommunication technologies that currently exist will help us to expand markets greatly.”
Samsung Electronics had developed most of modem chip technologies related to 3G and 4G LTE and installed them into its mobile AP called ‘Exynos’ series. However it was difficult for Samsung Electronics to supply chips to other customers other than Samsung Electronics’ Wireless Business Department as it did not have CDMA technology.
Samsung Electronics is going to apply so-called ‘6 mode’ modem technology to every Exynos AP that will be released starting from this year. This technology covers entire telecommunication technologies such as 2G CDMA, 3G TD-SCDMA, WCDMA, 4G LTE-FDD, and LTE-TDD.
Samsung Electronics introduced current status on development of 5G modem chip to its major customers that are visiting MWC 2018 and informed them of perfect compatibility of its 5G modem chip.
Qualcomm was the first one to commercialize 2G CDMA. It is heard that Samsung Electronics had spent huge amount of time in order to develop this technology while avoiding Qualcomm’s patents.
There are not many places in the world where there are only 2G CDMA telecommunication infrastructures. However, it is possible that data communication of Smartphone may not happen in these regions. This issue was considered as a weakness when Samsung Electronics was discussing with its customers regarding supply of Exynos Aps.
“Meizu’s Meilan 6S Smartphone has our Exynos 7872.” said a representative for Samsung Electronics. “This is meaningful because it is the first time that an Exynos AP that supports 6 mode modem technology was exported to Chinese markets for the first time.”
After commercializing first LTE modem solution in 2009, Samsung Electronics developed one-chip solution that combines Exynos 8890 AP with a modem in 2015 and achieved download speed of 1Gbps through 5 CA (Carrier Aggregation) technologies in 2016. In 2017, it commercialized LTE modem technology that provides download speed of 1.2Gbps through 6 CA. 1.2Gbps is equivalent to speed that can download a 2-hoour HD movie in just 10 seconds.
Staff Reporter Han, Juyeop | powerusr@etnews.com