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Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chip is here, sans integrated 5G

San Francisco, Dec 4

World's biggest chipset maker Qualcomm officially unveiled its flagship Snapdragon 865 chip for 2020's line up of smartphones but it will need a separate 5G modem to enable 5G instead of an integrated 5G modem built right into the processor.

However, the company has also introduced the Snapdragon 765, which interestingly, will come with integrated 5G.

Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) such as Oppo and Xiaomi are looking to launch their smartphones with this flagship processor in the first quarter of 2020.

The chip and the separate 5G modem that will power a big chunk of next year's high-end smartphones are finally here. And a couple more processors, aimed at slightly cheaper phones, will come with 5G modems already integrated, CNET reported on Tuesday.

Since February, the chipset maker has been teasing that it would offer Snapdragon chips with integrated 5G modems and at IFA 2019 that it would be offer a 700-series chip with integrated 5G.

It is bizarre that Qualcomm chose the less powerful 765 chip to serve as its initial integrated 5G product.

However, thi also means that OEMs that want to use the Snapdragon 865 and connect their devices to a 5G network must also buy Qualcomm's X55 modem. Many market watchers had expected Qualcomm's newest high-end chip to integrate 5G on the same chip as the application processor, the CNET report added.