4G Chip: Underlying Application Innovation

Although fierce competition has prompted some international companies to withdraw from the mobile phone chip market, Chinese companies still achieved impressive results. The most obvious feature of the mobile phone chip market is the fast update speed and the emergence of new technology trends. Under such circumstances, Chinese chip companies can only achieve new and faster development by grasping market dynamics and keeping pace with changes.

"Seamless" access is a long-term challenge

In the 4G era, multi-frequency and multi-mode are undoubtedly still the focus. Even the integration of multi-mode and multi-band baseband chips has become a “pass” for companies to enter. The most fundamental reason for LTE chips to support multi-mode is that LTE deployment cannot cover all areas at once, the network layout must be in phases, and 2G or 3G voice services must be provided to consumers, plus 3G itself has international roaming. The need to support different models.

In this regard, Bao Shanquan, senior director of product marketing at Qualcomm, pointed out: “We believe that multi-band and multi-mode is still the most important aspect of the 4G era, and it is increasingly convenient for seamless access experience and faster and faster access speeds. And so on, it is the mainstream trend of the mobile phone baseband market in the future."

In terms of seamless access, Bao Shanquan believes: "LTE, as a global standard, is particularly conducive to creating a globally unified industrial chain. The scope of China's LTE TDD/FDD hybrid networking trials is also continuing to expand and build for manufacturers. Supports LTE TDD/FDD's 5-mode 10-band, 5-mode 13-band, even 6-mode multi-frequency terminals for convenience."

Li Yue, President of China Mobile, said: “Our focus is on 5-mode 10-band and 5-mode and higher-frequency terminals. Only such terminals can cover all LTE networks in the world.”

In response to this trend, Chinese companies have also done a lot of work. HiSilicon has already launched a 5-mode LTE terminal chip, and multimode chips such as Spreadtrum, Lianxin, and MediaTek have also reached commercialization levels. Liu Jitang, vice president of Lianxin Technology, believes that “Chinese chip makers will rise rapidly, especially in the low-end 4G market will be ahead of European and American chip manufacturers. At the same time, China’s TD-LTE chip companies should also take advantage of the globalization of communications to achieve 'China Core' is globalized."

However, the industry still has doubts about whether it is necessary to adhere to the 5-mode model. After all, 4G smart phones will break out in low-end and mid-range markets in the next two years. Domestic chip makers are an important force driving the smartphone market below 1,500 yuan.

MARVELL marketing director Zhang Lu pointed out that in the terminal strategy, 5 mode 13 frequency can be used as a must for high-end products, but can be 3, 4 mode mobile phones as a popular type of product, because a large number of users pay more attention to cost, not all users All are so concerned about "seamless" roaming access. MediaTek also said in an interview with reporters that in the terminal market, low-end mobile phones are enough, and high-end mobile phones only pursue full-model. Whether it is 3-mode/4-mode or 5-mode/6-mode, it will coexist for a long time to meet the needs of different markets.

Innovative application into development focus

The technical challenges of current chip design have shifted to how to achieve differentiation. The discovery of innovative applications has become the main means by which terminal handset manufacturers shake the market. This is inseparable from the support of the underlying chips.

"Qualcomm processor has a lot of innovations." Bao Shanquan said, "such as support for voice activation. Integrated audio solution Qualcomm Fluence HD suite of new 'voice activation technology', so that the use of Xiaolong 800 processor Terminals can 'wake up' with custom voice commands and respond without the user's pressing a button. In addition, our Qualcomm Snapdragon Audio+ technology delivers a full-range audio experience for mobile music, movies and games.”

MediaTek also expressed its emphasis on the development of innovative application technologies. “Like our HotKnot technology, for the first time, near field communication technology is implemented on touch screens. Users can realize file sharing and information sharing through touch ICs, G sensors, and P sensors without the need for additional hardware and chips, and the cost is lower. In terms of wearables and IoT, we launched the LinkIt development platform. LinkIt is a development platform integrating MediaTek Aster SoC. It provides a complete reference design, highly integrated microprocessors and communication modules, and provides various networking functions to simplify the development process. Developers can focus more on product appearance, innovative features and related services."