Market Updates

Project Limitless: 5G in a PC

June, 2019

5G network is a next-gen technology providing mobile internet connectivity with faster speeds and more reliable connections on smart devices. Built on cutting-edge network technology, 5G network will offer connections that are way faster than current connections, with average download speeds of appx 1GBps expected. Network technology is predominantly being used for communication devices however it will also boost the rise in Internet of Things (IoT) technology. This will provid the infrastructure required to carry huge amounts of data thereby allowing world to become smarter and more connected.

In 2019, Qualcomm and Lenovo introduced 5G PC powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8cx SoC under the partnership named Project Limitless. Qualcomm which is a company chipsets manufacturer for smartphones, has developed a 7 nm platform purpose-built for PCs and offering 5G connectivity. This chipset (8cx 5G compute platform) being one of its kind, is among the powerful SoCs built by Qualcomm. This platform will provide a downloading speed of over 2 Gbps as well as significantly improved battery life compared to traditional laptops. Qualcomm and Lenovo collaborated and developed the 8cx 5G platform to leverage its performance and power efficiency combined with the high-speed connectivity by 5G, to deliver enhanced PC user experiences for both consumers and the enterprise. The collaborative effort will fulfil consumer’s demand for high transfer speed, streaming 4K, 8K content including AR/VR. High quality video sharing and chats, as well as faster mobile gaming are the other demand that would be fulfilled by 5G PCs.

Conclusively, the transition from 3G to 4G LTE has already transformed the way people use their smartphones. Similarly, Lenovo sees significant growth potential of 5G by enabling smarter, modern computing through the faster, always-connected PCs allowing enhanced connectivity and sharing in this connected world.

– Rahul,
ICT – Research Analyst,
Infoholic Research