Qualcomm Brings 5G Chipset for Mobiles But India Misses the Cut

The latest series of chipsets from Qualcomm will be made available through brands like Xiaomi, Oppo and Nokia.

Qualcomm is ready to help mobile devices support 5G connectivity.

(Photo: The Quint)

Qualcomm is hosting its annual summit this week, announcing its next range of processors for mobile, wearables and other devices, with 5G being the main focus.

While many countries have jumped to the next generation in connectivity, one country, as highlighted in the image above, is missing the cut.

India is yet to entertain the prospect of having 5G network run on the ground, as the country’s government is yet to find a viable spectrum model that will appease the telecom operators. This means that countries like Sri Lanka, Malta and even Brazil in the Latin America region are better prepared than India to offer 5G solutions to its people.

Even during its presentation on Tuesday, Qualcomm, via quoting various industry reports, mentioned that India is unlikely to pick up the 5G tab before mid 2021, which is still a long way from now.

India is way behind the pack in the 5G race.(Photo: The Quint)

The state of network aggregation, highlighted through the chart above, is at an advanced stage in most countries like China, Korea, Japan and the US. And the dark blue mark in front of India is an indicator that customers or business will have to bide their time before 5G makes its debut.

The country is likely to push through with the spectrum auction in the coming months, which gives telcos and phone makers the time and ammunition to lay down their network and offer them to the customers. This delay will also mean that most brands like OnePlus, Xiaomi and Samsung among others will bide their time before getting their 5G devices to the country.

On the sidelines of the main event, Qualcomm announced its new portfolio of chipsets for 2020 with the launch of its flagship Snapdragon 865 and the lower-tier Snapdragon 765 and Snapdragon 765G for gaming-focused devices.

The Snapdragon 765/765G gets integrated 5G connectivity, AI processing and a better gaming experience. Qualcomm said that the new 865 chipset is 2-times faster than the previous generation 855 processor and will cater to cameras with gigapixel sensors, if anyone wants to.

However, devices running on the 865 processor will need a separate modem to enable 5G instead of an integrated built-in 5G modem. This most likely implies that phone makers wanting to use the Snapdragon 865 will have to buy its X55 modem to make it 5G compatible.

Two times faster than Snapdragon 855, and more features in tow.(Photo: The Quint)

Xiaomi's co-founder Lin Bin also announced at the event that Xiaomi will be launching one of the first phone with the new Snapdragon 865 chipset, the Mi 10. Also, it will be launching more that 10 devices this year with the new Snapdragon series.

Also, OPPO said it will launch its flagship product using the Snapdragon 865 in the first quarter of 2020. Which of these will make its way to the Indian market, we’ll have to wait and see for that.