Qualcomm is expanding in every aspect, and competition is becoming more intense. In the mobile space, MediaTek is becoming increasingly active in design and process node transitions. MediaTek will become the first user of TSMC’s N4 process. Samsung is licensing RDNA graphics to s

Qualcomm is expanding in all aspects, and the competition has become more intense. In the mobile field, MediaTek is becoming more and more active in design and process node conversion. MediaTek will become the first user of TSMC’s N4 process. Samsung is licensing RDNA graphics to strengthen its internal SOC. Google is working with Samsung to develop their own in-house custom tensor chip, while Apple is achieving their goal of in-house developed modems. Despite all these challenges, Qualcomm is not backing down. They have committed to a more aggressive SOC in the future, even if it is weak in the short term. More importantly, they are accelerating gains in the radio frequency front-end (RFFE) market. This is a nearly $20 billion market, and Qualcomm is quickly gaining market share. Analysts believe that by 2025, Qualcomm's revenue will exceed the $8 billion radio frequency front-end (RFFE) market.

The radio frequency front-end area is a key area of ​​Qualcomm's business

RFFE is a broad area that covers everything from antennas that capture wireless signals all the way to transceivers and modems. Qualcomm has a lock on modem technology and they are generations ahead of the implemented 5G 3GPP launch schedule, but they only hold about 20% of the RFFE business. Qualcomm started building their RFFE business a long time ago, but it's really gotten super strong with growth over the past few years with the transition to 5G. Bringing leading-edge radio technology to market requires more than just implementing a modem and making it happen overnight. That meant gaining regulatory approval in dozens of different geographies, working with more than a hundred telcos, and ensuring form factors and thermals were optimized while keeping costs under control.

RF front-end technology is a key solution from modulator to antenna

RFFE (radio frequency front end) is not a single technology, so classifying it as a monolithic entity for general statements is difficult. It can be said that there have been more changes and developments in RFFE since 2013. The functionality required here is diverse and difficult. Every 6 months some part of the RF stack changes. Qualcomm is trying to enter the market with a vertically integrated stack from modems to antenna modules, thereby reducing the engineering effort required by customers. Qualcomm does not have products in every part of the RF front-end stack. In fact, there are many areas in RFFE (radio frequency front-end) that Qualcomm has not yet satisfied.

Key Features of Qualcomm's RF Front End

Qorvo, Skyworks, Akoustis and Broadcom would be considered Qualcomm's main competitors, but there are other competitors in this space. One area where Qualcomm has been trying to stay competitive and outperform its rivals is in RF filters. 5G is complex, in part because the frequencies used for communications vary. The overlap of various frequency bands and interference sources makes it difficult to maintain signal integrity accurately and efficiently. The filter is used to suppress all interference outside a given frequency band and ensure a clean spectrum within the isolated frequency range. An example of such a problem exists in

GlobalStar's n53 band (11.25MHz spectrum resource from 2483.5MHz to 2495MHz). Long before iPhone 13 was released, we debunked ridiculous rumors about iPhone 13 phones, satellite internet and $GSAT.

iPhones equipped with modems that support this band are nothing special in themselves. For decades, the 2.4GHz WiFi router has been able to use this band with only minor modifications due to the proximity of its operating spectrum. The spectrum is full of interference, with low-quality WiFi and Bluetooth operating outside of their normal range as well as leaking microwave interference.

GlobalStar n53 band is considered low quality due to heavily used spectrum overlap. The main purpose of a filter is to isolate the specific frequencies being used and ensure that communications equipment can maintain proper operation on a specific frequency spectrum. Qualcomm released their ultraSAW filters last year for 600MHz to 2.7GHz. One of the functions is to make GlobalStar's n53 band more available.

Qualcomm's UltraSAW and UltraBAW technologies

Qualcomm is now expanding its filter technology with ultraBAW. The operating frequency range of this filter is 2.7GHz to 7.2GHz. Qualcomm has gone from a severe lack of RF filters to having high-performance filter technology from 600MHz all the way to 7.2GHz. This includes support for upcoming band deployments such as C-Band, including the upcoming Wi-Fi 6E standard. The ultraBAW filters can support channels as wide as 300MHz on the downlink, which means Qualcomm will be able to achieve some crazy broadband numbers in future devices even as the frequency range drops below 6GHz. While this innovation will need to come along with other technology innovations in the RFFE stack, a big hole in Qualcomm's RF front-end products has been filled. UltraBAW filters will be shipped in volume in the second half of 2022. It will be supplied as part of discrete filters and modules.

analysts believe it will first appear in a smartphone update in the middle of the third quarter of 2022. This is somewhat unrelated to the RFFE situation, but Qualcomm seems to be in some trouble with and MediaTek becoming more aggressive with application processors. Our sources report that Qualcomm will respond to this push by releasing 2 flagship SOCs next year. First is Samsung's 4nm node in the first quarter, then TSMC's 4nm update in the third quarter. The architecture should be similar, but differences in process nodes will result in differences in efficiency and clock speeds.

Qualcomm's UltraBAW technology offers superior performance

This filter technology may help Qualcomm penetrate deeper into Wi-Fi. Broadcom is not fully prepared for the transition from WiFi 6 to 6E in terms of baseband and RFFE. Other companies usually lack RFFE or baseband products. Apple will move to in-house 5G modems and Wi-Fi basebands, but ultraBAW will allow Qualcomm to remain in the supply chain likely long after the transition. Analysts asked about the product's manufacturing partners, but we were only told that the information would not be disclosed.

Qualcomm's primary goal is not to provide components to build radio solutions for smartphone OEMs, IoT, automotive, etc. The real end goal is to provide pre-qualified, pre-approved vertical RF solutions from modem to antenna. This goes beyond the client. They hope to provide this vertical solution for small cells with leading products such as FSM200xx. Overall, Qualcomm will continue to gobble up SAM in RFFE. Analysts believe that Qualcomm will account for more than 20% of the RFFE (radio frequency front end) share in a few years. RFFE (Radio Frequency Front End) will help curb the impending share losses on the application processor side and deliver meaningful earnings growth amid stagnant smartphone sales.