Cost Challenge of mmWave
We have written about the difference between Sub-6 and mmWave in our 5G Spectrum 101, and the challenge of mmWave from a technology perspective because the signal does not travel far enough and can be easily blocked. We want to provide our audience with an update on why mmWave also introduces major challenges from a cost perspective.
First, to support mmWave, the smartphone has to add separate mmWave antenna modules in addition to a modem that supports mmWave (see exhibit below). Each antenna module contains its own RF path, RF transceiver, power amplifiers, power management IC and antenna array.
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To make things even more challenging, mmWaves can be blocked by the simple act of holding the devices, multiple mmWave antenna modules have to be placed in a smartphone to always have an exposed mmWave antenna module. Below is a teardown of Samsung Galaxy S10 5G version, which contains 3 mmWave antenna modules from Qualcomm, located in 3 different places near the metal frame. Currently Qualcomm is the only one has a proven design of mmWave module that works. Skyworks has a mmWave solution but not mature enough for commercialization yet.
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These factors bring meaningful cost increase to the mmWave enabled smartphones. The following chart compares the RF front end cost of early 5G devices and 4G LTE devices. Note this does not include the added cost of 5G baseband yet, just the RF to antenna part. You can see the 4 models supporting only sub-6 only version of 5G on average added ~50% of cost to the RF system; Samsung Galaxy S10 5G supports both sub-6 and mmWave, the 5G portion of RF costs 2x the 4G LTE portion, this alone is $50+ of the additional cost.
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