Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 powers world's first LTE-advanced smartphone

SAN DIEGO, USA: Qualcomm Technologies Inc. is enabling the world's first LTE-Advanced smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S4 LTE-A, powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor.

The new Galaxy S4 LTE-A will be launched on all three mobile operators' LTE networks in Korea, starting with SK Telecom, followed by KT and LGU+. The new Galaxy S4 LTE-A will be the first smartphone to utilize LTE carrier aggregation for data rates up to 150 Mbps - double what current LTE speeds offer. The Snapdragon 800 processor is Qualcomm Technologies' most advanced and powerful mobile processor to date.

"Snapdragon 800 processors with LTE Advanced are designed to deliver maximum performance and connectivity to users who want the fastest and best mobile experiences, from watching high-definition video to playing the latest mobile games," said Murthy Renduchintala, executive vice-president, Qualcomm Technologies Inc. and co-president, Qualcomm mobile and computing. "LTE-Advanced represents a significant improvement over current standards and will only enhance these experiences on the Galaxy S4, and other future devices worldwide."

LTE carrier aggregation is an important new technology, and a foundational feature of the standard that combines radio channels within and across bands to increase user data rates and reduce latency. While current LTE mobile devices support several LTE radio channels, they can only download on one channel at a time. LTE carrier aggregation, however, allows for simultaneous download on two or more LTE radio channels, effectively enabling full use of the nominal chipset LTE data rate category.

Snapdragon 800 processors feature an integrated multimode 3G/4G LTE modem and are designed to support LTE carrier aggregation without sacrificing battery life, allowing operators to increase both peak and average data rates for their consumers and device manufacturers to build sleeker devices with differentiated applications for their customers. Qualcomm Technologies is currently shipping its third generation multimode LTE solutions. The Galaxy S4 LTE-A is expected to be available to customers in Korea this summer.