The hardest part is to get power management right. Anyone can build a modem that "works", but nobody other than Qualcomm, (and I really mean that), has gotten power management right.
What I mean is that even today, if you buy a 4G enabled phone not powered by Qualcomm, your battery will drain in a few hours and you'll be left with a dead brick for the rest of the day.
Source: I spent years building 3G and 4G PHY chips at various QC competitors that have all since folded up or have been bought and merged into other teams.
>What I mean is that even today, if you buy a 4G enabled phone not powered by Qualcomm, your battery will drain in a few hours and you'll be left with a dead brick for the rest of the day.
I had an iPhone 7 with an intel modem (AT&T iPhone) for 3 years. The battery did not die in 4 hours.
What I mean is that even today, if you buy a 4G enabled phone not powered by Qualcomm, your battery will drain in a few hours and you'll be left with a dead brick for the rest of the day.
Source: I spent years building 3G and 4G PHY chips at various QC competitors that have all since folded up or have been bought and merged into other teams.