With the improvement of 4G (LTE) networks of domestic operators and the popularity of smart phones, our daily life is increasingly inseparable from them. Now when you buy a machine or go abroad, you will pay attention to whether your machine is "all connected", "all connected", and can it adapt to the network of different operators in different regions? If you notice this, I believe you will have heard of the brand "Snapdragon". However, Qualcomm behind Snapdragon is an expert in the field of communication. The excellent network support of the Snapdragon processor is inseparable from the Snapdragon LTE modem that Qualcomm has been developing behind.

P. S. LTE Modem, commonly known as baseband in daily life

The first LTE/3G integrated MDM9x00

As early as 2009, when China had just issued 3G licenses to three major operators, Qualcomm foresaw that the development of 4G would be dominated by LTE (Long Term Evolution), and launched the first generation Gobi series product MDM9x00, which is the world's first LTE/3G integrated multi-mode modem.

The most classic is the MDM9600, which supports UMTS, HSPA+, EV-DO Rev. B, and LTE. LTE directly supports FDD and TDD duplex modes in one breath, and supports peak downlink speeds of up to 100Mbps and peak uplink speeds of 50Mbps. In other words, this modem can be compatible with all 4G networks of three major operators. It can be said that the launch of MDM9x00 has opened a new era of mobile terminal device network support, and flagship devices have also taken the pilot ship.

It must be mentioned that HTC launched HTC ThunderBolt, the first LTE smartphone for Verizon, the largest operator in the United States, in 2011. Even though Desire HD, the twin brother of ThunderBolt, is more famous, it can't escape the weakness of only supporting HSPA+networks. Naturally, the better network support of ThunderBolt was brought by Qualcomm MDM9600 modem, the hero behind the scenes.

As the leader in the post smartphone era, Apple is no exception. In order to provide users with an excellent wireless network experience, it also uses this classic modem in its products - after dismantling Apple's 4G version of The New iPad, it was learned that it is the MDM9600 that provides 3G/LTE network support for Apple, and later iPhones, iPads, etc. are also provided with corresponding modems by Qualcomm.

The first MDM9x15 fully supported

Although MDM9x00 is good, it has some shortcomings in the face of the Chinese market: at the time of the development of 3G networks in China, China Mobile, the world's largest operator, was assigned TD-SCDMA, which is just not supported. Qualcomm is well aware of this shortcoming, so the MDM9x15 of the second generation Gobi series came into being.

MDM9x15's support for network systems continues to improve. Compared with MDM9x00, EV-DO Rev. A and TD-SCDMA, as well as a higher speed DC-HSPA+connection, MDM9x15 truly achieves Gobi's original goal: to travel around the world (WorldWide) with complete network support. At the same time, the 28nm process has reduced power consumption and PCB area by 30% year on year. Qualcomm has also integrated it into SoC, and the familiar S4 Plus (MSM8960) is a representative product.

The most famous example of the network advantages of MSM8960 must be the BlackBerry Z10. As the first model of BlackBerry 10, an old manufacturer, BlackBerry launched a new system. Both the engineering machine before the release and the leaked information indicate that the SoC of the Z10 will use the OMAP4470 of Texas Instruments. However, when officially released, it was determined that three of the four models of the Z10 will use the Qualcomm MSM8960, The reason is that Qualcomm needs to be able to provide solutions for LTE networks of different operators around the world.

There are also many famous machines that also use the MSM8960: HTC first used the 8X of WP8 system; The American version of Samsung's flagship Galaxy S3; Lumia 1020, the legitimate successor of Lumia 925 and PrueView 808, the first Nokia Lumia series to use metal elements; Razr M of motorcycle frameless design; Inherit the Q10 of Blackberry keyboard.

The first All Netcom MDM9x25

After the running in of the first two generations, MDM9x15 has been able to support different global network systems. However, LTE, as the focus of 4G construction, has a small and many frequency bands due to various reasons of different operators in various countries. How to effectively use and integrate them is the key point of the third generation Gobi series product MDM9x25.

MDM9x25 continues to use the 28nm process, mainly improving performance and power consumption. Surprisingly, it integrates GSM/EDGE, CDMA1X, WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, EV-DO, LTE-FDD and LTE-TDD into one modem for the first time, which is the ancestor of what we later called All Netcom. In addition, MDM9x25 is the first product that supports LTE carrier aggregation technology. The download speed has been improved to 150Mbps of LTE Cat. 4, entering the era of LTE Advanced.

Similar to the predecessor MDM9x15, MDM9x25 is also rapidly popularized because it is integrated into Qualcomm Snapdragon's 800/600/400 series. Among many models, the Galaxy S4 LTE-A, which was first launched by Samsung in South Korea, is the most eye-catching. It appears as the world's first Snapdragon 800 and the world's first LTE Advanced model, and its historical position is self-evident.

As for Qualcomm's main competitors, MediaTek and Samsung, they are obviously lagging behind in terms of modems: MediaTek's MT6735 was released in 2015 for the first time to achieve full network connectivity; Samsung is expected to achieve full network connectivity on the Exynos 7872, which is expected to be launched this year. This is a task that the flagship Exynos 8895 has failed to accomplish at present. You should know that the MDM9x25 has sent samples in November 2012 and was officially commercially available in 2013.

To be continued

After three generations of development, Gobi series modems have become more mature and stable, and Qualcomm Snapdragon processors integrated with Gobi modems have become more and more famous. In contrast, Gobi is much more unknown. Later, in order to sort out the product line and unify the brand, Qualcomm officially changed the name of Gobi series to Snapdragon X series modem in 2015, and the MDM9x25 was turned into Snapdragon X5 LTE modem, which is a new chapter of Qualcomm LTE modem. We will continue to talk about the development of Qualcomm Snapdragon X series LTE modems next time.

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