Samsung Unveils 6CA LTE Modem Capable of Achieving 1.2Gbps Downlink Speeds

Samsung has now unveiled a new 6CA (carrier aggregation) LTE modem that is claimed to be capable of offering speeds up to 1.2Gbps. If this is integrated in the Samsung Galaxy S9 next year, the smartphone could offer higher LTE speeds than your home fibre connection as well, and may be able to download a full-HD movie in just 10 seconds.

The South Korean consumer electronics giant claims that this LTE modem has been introduced for the company's next-generation mobile processors that supports 6CA (carrier aggregation) for the first time in the industry. The new technology is rated to offer peak downlink speed of up to 1.2Gbps.

The 6CA-supported LTE modem achieves up to 20 percent improvement in maximum downlink speed allowing users to make buffer-less video calls and mobile live-broadcasting. Earlier this year, Samsung presented the its Cat.16 LTE modem with 1 Gigabit (Gb) downlink speed and the first 5CA support in the Samsung Exynos 9 Series (8895) SoC that is integrated into the Galaxy S8 series.

"With the increase of high-quality online content services, the demand for high-performance LTE modems continue to rise as well. The 1.2Gbps maximum downlink speed with 6CA support highlights Samsung's leading design capabilities and well-positions Samsung for the upcoming 5G era," said Woonhaing Hur, Vice President of System LSI Protocol Development at Samsung Electronics in a statement.

Samsung's new technology supports 4~CHECK~4 MIMO (Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output) and higher-order 256 QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) scheme to maximise the data transfer rate. It is expected to go into mass production by the end of this year.

While this technology looks quite extraordinary on paper, the reality is that optimum speeds are seldom possible in today's scenario. Even in developed markets like the US, most carriers are aggregating three LTE channels with network congestion further preventing speeds that are often seen while testing in ideal conditions. However, with the new technology coming into the market, carriers will possibly tighten their belts and start testing 6CA speeds to bring them into the market soon.