Intel and MediaTek Team up for 5G Laptops
It turns out Intel’s not totally out of 5G modems.
Those who can’t do, teach. Intel might have sold its 5G modem business to Apple, but it seems that it isn’t done in the space just yet. The company today announced a partnership with Taiwan-based semiconductor company MediaTek for the “development, certification and support of 5G modem solutions” for laptops.
The program is expected to deliver its first products in 2021. Intel will create the spec, and MediaTek will make the modems, which Intel will validate and promote to OEM partners.
That release date means Qualcomm is more likely to be the first with 5G laptops. At the Computex conference in May, it showed off the Project Limitless laptop in partnership with Lenovo. The PC featured a Snapdragon x55 5G modem paired with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx processor.
In addition, Intel and Mediatek are working with Fibocom on the development of M.2 modules designed to work with Intel client platforms.
MediaTek today is also launching its Dimensity line of 5G systems on a chip (SoCs).
Hopefully, by the time these launch, 5G networks will be widespread enough for laptop users to take advantage of the speeds in office buildings and homes and not just out on the street.
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Andrew E. Freedman is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware focusing on laptops, desktops and gaming. He also keeps up with the latest news. A lover of all things gaming and tech, his previous work has shown up in Tom's Guide, Laptop Mag, Kotaku, PCMag and Complex, among others. Follow him on Threads @FreedmanAE and BlueSky @andrewfreedman.net. You can send him tips on Signal: andrewfreedman.01
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JayNor A Forbes article on this made the statement below. Anyone confirm? I thought Qualcomm had multi-mode.Reply
"Though to MediaTek’s technical credit, all of its 5G modems are multi-mode, meaning that a single modem supports everything from 2G to 5G, whereas Qualcomm’s current 5G modems are only for 5G and require another modem chip for 4G and below." -
victorwachanga Qualcomm confirms on its website that the X55 5G is a single-chip multi-mode solution for multi-mode devices.Reply