6 ms·

How many competitive LTE chipset manufacturers exist?

wyldfire 9y ago
It's worth noting that Broadcom does not make one. Qualcomm and Broadcom overlap in WiFi + Bluetooth. I know of three LTE modem manufacturers: Qualcomm, Intel, Mediatek.
- mtgx 9y ago
  Doesn't Samsung make its own LTE chips, too, for Exynos? I also wish Samsung would sell its Exynos chips to other smartphone OEMs. They've hinted in the past that it's Qualcomm the one blocking them from doing that with patents. Regulators should take a closer look at that.
  - kevin_thibedeau 9y ago
    That's what patents are for. If Samsung is too cheap to license them then they don't get.
    - tooltalk 9y ago
      Samsung is the largest customer and licensee of Qualcomm chips and patents. The problem here isn't that Samsung doesn't want to license Qualcomm's patents, but that Qualcomm DOES NOT license their patents to their baseband competitors (eg, Samsung, Mediatek, Intel); instead Qualcomm wants to collect royalties from the end-device makers (eg, HTC, Samsung Mobile). This is precisely why anti-trust/competition regulators have been going after Qualcomm recently.
      - kevin_thibedeau 9y ago
        Patent holders don't have to license anything if they don't want to. That's how patents work. It's not like QCom are NPE trolls. They actually did all the ground work of creating CDMA as a viable technology. The patent system is there to reward them for their research efforts.
        tooltalk 9y ago
        Qualcomm's wireless patents are Standard Essential Patents (SEP) and FRAND (Fair Reasonable Add Non-Discriminatory) encumbered. In other words, Qualcomm voluntarily declared their wireless patents to Standard Setting Orgnizations (SSO) such as ETSI, ITU, etc to become part of standards that all chipmakers must implement. Qualcomm is, under their agreement with SSO's, required to license their wireless to all willing licensees at FRAND terms. In exchange for giving up their monopoly, Qualcomm gets guaranteed income from all uses of wireless standards such as LTE in baseband chips, or mobile phones.
        dbuder 9y ago
        This is true but there is a growing feeling that 2 of the 5 radios on my device shouldn't get to make up >20% of my BOM on their license alone. While the poster above you is right that they're aren't trolls per se, some of those patents (and there are a lot, all clustered around a few areas) are broad and vague and more of a wide claim than a useful description of something new.
        deleted 9y ago
        [deleted]
  - moondowner 9y ago
    Meizu uses Exynos chips on their smartphones, looks like they are the only OEM so far.. http://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/Exynos/Newsroom/Blog/INTERVIEW_Meizu_explains_why_Exynos_powers_its_flagship_device.html http://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/Exynos/Newsroo...
- GFischer 9y ago
  Doesn't Huawei/HiSilicon make one? (apparently designed by GCT Semiconductor)
  - wyldfire 9y ago
    Yes, I think you're right.
foobaw 9y ago
MediaTek is only suitable for mid-tier phones (at least when I was in the OEM industry). Exynos is only for Samsung. A lot of OEMs try to make their own LTE chips, but it's not easy. Qualcomm is still very much relevant in the phone industry.
- tooltalk 9y ago
  Meizu has been using Samsung's Exynos chips for years now. I think there are plenty of radio modem makers/competitors now. It's not to say that it's easy to make your own chips, but the real problem here is that Qualcomm does not believe in licensing their wireless patents to baseband makers. Qualcomm wants to collect royalties from OEM's customers instead for greater licensing fee.
- jsmthrowaway 9y ago
  Some might argue that at this point, it’s their only real relevance, yet a hugely valuable (and legally protectable) relevance. And they know it, if their recent advertising messaging is any indication.
skinnymuch 9y ago
Does anyone know who would be making the chipsets that come after LTE? Do patents for each round of network technologies change which companies make them? Or does it stay the same? Really, I'm wondering what happens whenever 5G or whatever comes after 4G/LTE comes around. And in how long approximately that will be.
- ksec 9y ago
  5G is more like an evolved 4G. So nothing changed much. (Qualcomm still biggest Winner ).
- ajnin 9y ago
  Qualcom got working on 5G technology as soon as 4G was finalized. I'm not an expert but it seems that the standards are written to be very close to the technology that Qualcomm is developping in parallel, if only because they demonstrate feasibility. They have a tremendous amount of headstart and expertise, which makes it very hard for new actors to enter this market. Also the amount of overlapping patents between successive technology generations is probably a big deterrent as well.
- newusertoday 9y ago
  percentage of royalties would reduce from current ~5% in LTE to 2.5-3% in 5G.many operators have just invested in upgrading to gigabit LTE so next rollout should happen after they recoup their current investments so probably by 2020.
- mschuster91 9y ago
  > Does anyone know who would be making the chipsets that come after LTE? Even if some competitors will make 5G chipsets, they still will have to build in everything from good ol' GSM over EDGE over HSxPA to 4G in addition, because what use is a phone (or IoT gadget!) that only works in major urban areas where 5G deployments will happen first? All this will have to incorporate Qualcomm patents at the least, and most likely also Qualcomm chipsets. Hell when I drive to the German country side I more often than not only have EDGE, and the situation in developing countries is even more dire.

It's worth noting that Broadcom does not make one. Qualcomm and Broadcom overlap in WiFi + Bluetooth. I know of three LTE modem manufacturers: Qualcomm, Intel, Mediatek.

mtgx 9y ago
Doesn't Samsung make its own LTE chips, too, for Exynos? I also wish Samsung would sell its Exynos chips to other smartphone OEMs. They've hinted in the past that it's Qualcomm the one blocking them from doing that with patents. Regulators should take a closer look at that.
- kevin_thibedeau 9y ago
  That's what patents are for. If Samsung is too cheap to license them then they don't get.
  - tooltalk 9y ago
    Samsung is the largest customer and licensee of Qualcomm chips and patents. The problem here isn't that Samsung doesn't want to license Qualcomm's patents, but that Qualcomm DOES NOT license their patents to their baseband competitors (eg, Samsung, Mediatek, Intel); instead Qualcomm wants to collect royalties from the end-device makers (eg, HTC, Samsung Mobile). This is precisely why anti-trust/competition regulators have been going after Qualcomm recently.
    - kevin_thibedeau 9y ago
      Patent holders don't have to license anything if they don't want to. That's how patents work. It's not like QCom are NPE trolls. They actually did all the ground work of creating CDMA as a viable technology. The patent system is there to reward them for their research efforts.
      - tooltalk 9y ago
        Qualcomm's wireless patents are Standard Essential Patents (SEP) and FRAND (Fair Reasonable Add Non-Discriminatory) encumbered. In other words, Qualcomm voluntarily declared their wireless patents to Standard Setting Orgnizations (SSO) such as ETSI, ITU, etc to become part of standards that all chipmakers must implement. Qualcomm is, under their agreement with SSO's, required to license their wireless to all willing licensees at FRAND terms. In exchange for giving up their monopoly, Qualcomm gets guaranteed income from all uses of wireless standards such as LTE in baseband chips, or mobile phones.
        dbuder 9y ago
        This is true but there is a growing feeling that 2 of the 5 radios on my device shouldn't get to make up >20% of my BOM on their license alone. While the poster above you is right that they're aren't trolls per se, some of those patents (and there are a lot, all clustered around a few areas) are broad and vague and more of a wide claim than a useful description of something new.
      - deleted 9y ago
        [deleted]
- moondowner 9y ago
  Meizu uses Exynos chips on their smartphones, looks like they are the only OEM so far.. http://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/Exynos/Newsroom/Blog/INTERVIEW_Meizu_explains_why_Exynos_powers_its_flagship_device.html http://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/Exynos/Newsroo...
GFischer 9y ago
Doesn't Huawei/HiSilicon make one? (apparently designed by GCT Semiconductor)
- wyldfire 9y ago
  Yes, I think you're right.

foobaw 9y ago

MediaTek is only suitable for mid-tier phones (at least when I was in the OEM industry). Exynos is only for Samsung. A lot of OEMs try to make their own LTE chips, but it's not easy. Qualcomm is still very much relevant in the phone industry.

tooltalk 9y ago
Meizu has been using Samsung's Exynos chips for years now. I think there are plenty of radio modem makers/competitors now. It's not to say that it's easy to make your own chips, but the real problem here is that Qualcomm does not believe in licensing their wireless patents to baseband makers. Qualcomm wants to collect royalties from OEM's customers instead for greater licensing fee.
jsmthrowaway 9y ago
Some might argue that at this point, it’s their only real relevance, yet a hugely valuable (and legally protectable) relevance. And they know it, if their recent advertising messaging is any indication.

skinnymuch 9y ago

Does anyone know who would be making the chipsets that come after LTE? Do patents for each round of network technologies change which companies make them? Or does it stay the same? Really, I'm wondering what happens whenever 5G or whatever comes after 4G/LTE comes around. And in how long approximately that will be.

ksec 9y ago
5G is more like an evolved 4G. So nothing changed much. (Qualcomm still biggest Winner ).
ajnin 9y ago
Qualcom got working on 5G technology as soon as 4G was finalized. I'm not an expert but it seems that the standards are written to be very close to the technology that Qualcomm is developping in parallel, if only because they demonstrate feasibility. They have a tremendous amount of headstart and expertise, which makes it very hard for new actors to enter this market. Also the amount of overlapping patents between successive technology generations is probably a big deterrent as well.
newusertoday 9y ago
percentage of royalties would reduce from current ~5% in LTE to 2.5-3% in 5G.many operators have just invested in upgrading to gigabit LTE so next rollout should happen after they recoup their current investments so probably by 2020.
mschuster91 9y ago
> Does anyone know who would be making the chipsets that come after LTE? Even if some competitors will make 5G chipsets, they still will have to build in everything from good ol' GSM over EDGE over HSxPA to 4G in addition, because what use is a phone (or IoT gadget!) that only works in major urban areas where 5G deployments will happen first? All this will have to incorporate Qualcomm patents at the least, and most likely also Qualcomm chipsets. Hell when I drive to the German country side I more often than not only have EDGE, and the situation in developing countries is even more dire.