Taiwanese semiconductor company MediaTek has a few 5G chipsets but none that supports the mmWave spectrum. But today MediaTek has announced its new M80 5G modem which combines mmWave and sub-6 GHz 5G technologies onto a single chip.
The new chip can be used on smartphones, personal computers, and portable wifi hotspot devices.
The millimeter-wave (mmWave) technology has gained traction in the U.S.
“As 5G rollouts accelerate, mmWave is becoming increasingly important, especially in the US. MediaTek’s new 5G modem integrates support for both sub-6 GHz and mmWave networks to address this opportunity and give device makers more flexibility,” said JC Hsu, Corporate Vice President and General Manager of MediaTek's Wireless Communications Business Unit.
“To advance users’ 5G experiences, the new modem supports the latest global cellular standards and specifications and it packs MediaTek’s signature power savings technologies along with ultra-fast speeds,” he added.
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Helio M80 meant for a range of devices
The Helio M80 is the successor to the Helio M70 modem found inside the Dimensity 1000 series.
The M80 supports ultra-fast speeds on both non-standalone (NSA) and standalone (SA) architectures, with a peak rate of 7.67 Gbps in the downlink and 3.76 Gbps in the uplink. The M80 also supports dual 5G SIM, dual 5G NSA and SA networks, and dual Voice over New Radio (VoNR) for more reliable connectivity.
MediaTek’s 5G modems are tailored for a range of devices, including smartphones, PCs, Mi-Fi hotspots, broadband customer premise equipment (CPE), industrial IoT applications and more.
MediaTek’s first generation 5G modem, the M70, is built into MediaTek’s Dimensity series of power-efficient chipsets for 5G smartphones.
Helio M80 to hit the market in the second half of 2021
The company’s 5G portfolio also includes the MediaTek T700, which will power 5G PCs set to hit the market in 2021, along with MediaTek’s T750 chipset for 5G fixed wireless access routers (FWA) and mobile hotspot devices.
The M80 has been tested against industry standards and is expected to sample with customers later in 2021.
The M80 integrates MediaTek’s 5G UltraSave technologies which improve on the single-chip design to provide another layer of extensive power-saving enhancements.
The M80 also integrates MediaTek’s Dynamic Bandwidth Part (BWP) technology which is designed to optimize bandwidth use to accommodate light or heavy data throughput requests. Additionally, with the M80’s Connected Mode DRX (C-DRX) technology the modem will regularly remain powered in connected standby even when there is no data activity, the company said.
