T-Mobile, Nokia hit 1.175Gbps using Qualcomm's Snapdragon X20 LTE modem

T-Mobile's 4G LTE network was employed by Nokia and Qualcomm on Friday, to send data at speeds of 1.175Gbps. The test was run on 60Hz downlink spectrum and used  3x carrier aggregation to increase the capacity of the network. The device used in the test was powered by the Snapdragon X20 LTE modem, and included 4 x 4 MIMO to increase the number of connections between the device transmitting the data, and the device receiving it. It also included 256QAM, a technology that helps T-Mobile achieve gigabit speeds. A single Nokia 4.9G AirScale Base Station was used in the testing.

The Snapdragon X20 modem is rumored to be included in the Snapdragon 845 chipset, which is the chipmaker's next high-end SoC. The modem is able to support LTE Cat. 18 which has a theoretical ceiling of 1.2Gbps measuring download speeds. According to Qualcomm Executive VP Cristiano Amon, phones powered by the modem should be commercially available in the first half of 2018. The Samsung Galaxy S9 is rumored to be the first phone in line to use the Snapdragon 845 which means that it could very well be the first device offered to the public equipped with the X20 modem.


LTE Cat. 18 phones (possibly including the Galaxy S9) with the Snapdragon X20 modem could end up with consistent download speeds of 100Mbps. All of this is taking place as carriers continue to test 5G. The next-gen wireless networks could see some commercial use as soon as 2019.

source: T-Mobile via PCMag