4 ms·

They’re open standards, sure, but there is almost no competition in the cellular modem space. Intel tried and failed spectacularly. Apple bought the scraps of t

They’re open standards, sure, but there is almost no competition in the cellular modem space. Intel tried and failed spectacularly. Apple bought the scraps of the Intel modem business and still hasn’t released their own modems after… 5 years? Cellular tech is hard and has a lot of esoteric requirements. If you want a cell modem for a smartphone, you essentially buy either the latest and greatest from Qualcomm or you buy something from one of the Chinese companies (Huawei, Mediatek) which has its own set of problems.

GeekyBear 2y ago
Samsung, Huawei and MediaTek SOCs implement the same open 4g/5g standards. Apple's modem is said to be shipping this coming spring in the newest iPhone SE iteration. Google's Pixel phone lineup has used Samsung's modems for generations now.
- Kirby64 2y ago
  There’s so many sub varieties of the standards. You’re making a gross oversimplification that they’re “the same”. Compare intel vs Qualcomm modems that were released on iPhones. They were “the same” standard but the Qualcomm modems were notably faster in testing. Maybe they’re all at parity these days, but it’s pretty hard to do a fair comparison.
  - GeekyBear 2y ago
    By all means, point to some official statement showing that Google cannot market the Pixel phone as supporting the 4g/5g standards due to Google's use of Samsung modems.
    - Kirby64 2y ago
      You’re not hearing what I’m saying. I’m saying that Qualcomm historically has supported more advanced 4g and 5g standards that allow them to achieve faster modem rates. Whether that’s true today I’m not sure, but it was definitely true back when Intel was making modems. “Supporting 4g/5g” is meaningless. It matters what bands, what data rates, the sub carrier rates, how many channels you can bond together, etc etc. Take a look at the product briefs of each modem and compare the actual “supported features” and it’s a lot more specific than just “5g” and certain bands, for instance.
      - ksec 2y ago
        >You’re not hearing what I’m saying. You are saying Qualcomm doesn't have competition because Qualcomm make the best modem and others making worst product cant compete?
    - simfree 2y ago
      Google certainly tortured me and everyone else I knew who had a Pixel 6 (or Pro) phone, you would randomly lose cellular and WiFi and they would not recover on their own, necessitating a reboot or toggling airplane mode to get back online. The Exynos chipset is cursed, Samsung only ships it in markets where performance is a lower priority than price, hence not shipping Exynos in the US outside the Google Pixel whitelabel relationship.
      - ywvcbk 2y ago
        > hence not shipping Exynos in the US I thought it was primarily because of some patent/royalty dispute with Qualcomm? And/or it not having support for CDMA which was not relevant outside of the US. Now that it’s not an issue I wouldn’t be surprised if Samsung would transition to Exynos eventually (they are already apparently selling some models).
- simfree 2y ago
  Google's Pixel handsets have worse modem performance than similar flagship Samsungs sold in the US, as even Samsung won't sell their underperforming Exynos chipsets in their flagship phones in the USA. Exynos 5G New Radio chipsets got really bad with the Pixel 6 series, where the phone randomly loses cell signal and WiFi at the same time in areas with strong signal, and the only way to get back online is to put the phone in airplane mode or reboot the phone, sometimes neither works though.

GeekyBear 2y ago

Samsung, Huawei and MediaTek SOCs implement the same open 4g/5g standards. Apple's modem is said to be shipping this coming spring in the newest iPhone SE iteration. Google's Pixel phone lineup has used Samsung's modems for generations now.

Kirby64 2y ago
There’s so many sub varieties of the standards. You’re making a gross oversimplification that they’re “the same”. Compare intel vs Qualcomm modems that were released on iPhones. They were “the same” standard but the Qualcomm modems were notably faster in testing. Maybe they’re all at parity these days, but it’s pretty hard to do a fair comparison.
- GeekyBear 2y ago
  By all means, point to some official statement showing that Google cannot market the Pixel phone as supporting the 4g/5g standards due to Google's use of Samsung modems.
  - Kirby64 2y ago
    You’re not hearing what I’m saying. I’m saying that Qualcomm historically has supported more advanced 4g and 5g standards that allow them to achieve faster modem rates. Whether that’s true today I’m not sure, but it was definitely true back when Intel was making modems. “Supporting 4g/5g” is meaningless. It matters what bands, what data rates, the sub carrier rates, how many channels you can bond together, etc etc. Take a look at the product briefs of each modem and compare the actual “supported features” and it’s a lot more specific than just “5g” and certain bands, for instance.
    - ksec 2y ago
      >You’re not hearing what I’m saying. You are saying Qualcomm doesn't have competition because Qualcomm make the best modem and others making worst product cant compete?
  - simfree 2y ago
    Google certainly tortured me and everyone else I knew who had a Pixel 6 (or Pro) phone, you would randomly lose cellular and WiFi and they would not recover on their own, necessitating a reboot or toggling airplane mode to get back online. The Exynos chipset is cursed, Samsung only ships it in markets where performance is a lower priority than price, hence not shipping Exynos in the US outside the Google Pixel whitelabel relationship.
    - ywvcbk 2y ago
      > hence not shipping Exynos in the US I thought it was primarily because of some patent/royalty dispute with Qualcomm? And/or it not having support for CDMA which was not relevant outside of the US. Now that it’s not an issue I wouldn’t be surprised if Samsung would transition to Exynos eventually (they are already apparently selling some models).
simfree 2y ago
Google's Pixel handsets have worse modem performance than similar flagship Samsungs sold in the US, as even Samsung won't sell their underperforming Exynos chipsets in their flagship phones in the USA. Exynos 5G New Radio chipsets got really bad with the Pixel 6 series, where the phone randomly loses cell signal and WiFi at the same time in areas with strong signal, and the only way to get back online is to put the phone in airplane mode or reboot the phone, sometimes neither works though.