Qualcomm has just announced its first two Wi-Fi 6E modems for mobile applications – the Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 and 6700. Both chips support up to Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2.
The announcement came after the US Federal Communications Commission allowed the 6Hz band to be used for Wi-Fi which has been named Wi-Fi 6E.
The new Wi-Fi level can use 1200MHz of the 6 GHz spectrum. It is double of the current 2.4GHz and 5 GHz bands.
The FastConnect 6900 supports 4-stream Dual Band Simultaneous operation which allows it to combine a 2×2 6 GHz connection with a 2×2 5 GHz connection. This brings a peak 3.6 Gbps speed. The FastConnect 6700 lacks the DBS but can still theoretically reach 2.9Gbps.
Because the 6GHz band is free from interference in addition to Qualcomm-developed technology, the company is promising low latency connections with Wi-Fi 6E. Low latency is perfect for almost everything we do from streaming videos, augmented and virtual reality, gaming (more specifically cloud gaming), and video calls.
The new modem chips also bring improvements with Bluetooth 5.2. They support Dual BlueTooth Antenna configurations which bring increased reliability and speed.
Bluetooth audio can go up to 96 kHz through aptX Adaptive which is believed to deliver a quality equivalent to wired headphones. In addition, there’s aptX Voice with 32 kHz bandwidth. In comparison current HD Voice delivers 16 kHz, just have of aptX Voice.
Qualcomm will send samples of the FastConnect 6700 and 6900 to manufacturers later this year. This means we can expect to see these impressive modem chips by early 2021. A Wi-Fi 6E router is required to utilize the new technology though.
With 5G here (for some countries at least), it’s exciting to see an upgrade in the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth realm with the Qualcomm FastConnect chips as well. The later more specifically with the growing Bluetooth headset market.
Ram found his love and appreciation for writing in 2015 having started in the gaming and esports sphere for GG Network. He would then transition to focus more on the world of tech which has also began his journey into learning more about this world. That said though, he still has the mentality of "as long as it works" for his personal gadgets.
