Motorola, LG Commit to Making Some of the First Cheap 5G Phones

Qualcomm announced its new Snapdragon 690 5G platform this week as the first chip to help manufacturers make more affordable 5G phones. The number of companies lining up to use it is already solid, with names like LG, Motorola, and Nokia on the list.

This new chip (SM6350) from Qualcomm is an 8nm 64-bit chip, with support for displays at a full HD resolution and up to 120Hz (or QHD and 60Hz), up to 192MP camera captures, WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.1, Quick Charge 4+, and 5G.

The 5G is provided by the Snapdragon X51 5G modem where you have sub-6Hz support and max download speeds of 1.2Gbps. You won’t find 5G mmW support in the 690 because 5G is shitty, expensive to implement, and mostly useless to everyone on this planet not sitting outside on a street corner in a major city or in a sports arena.

I’m sure the chip will be a fine mid-range chip for those who think they need 5G in their lives.

For LG and Motorola, I’m going to assume we’ll get LG K and Stylo series devices with 5G, while Motorola will likely implement 5G into their One series devices. We could see a Moto G 5G at some point too.

HMD, TCL, Sharp, and Wingtech are others who love the 690.

I just hope they can keep prices where they were with their cheap 4G LTE versions.

// Qualcomm