5G: The battle still rages

Consumer demand for mobile phones weakened in 2018, resulting in a market decline. In this context, the competition has intensified, creating an emulation to push 5G forward. Yole Développement (Yole) announces a 8% CAGR between 2018 and 2025 for the RF front-end market. Reaching US$15 billion in 2018, this industry should reach US$25.8 billion by 2025, confirms the RF electronics team at Yole.

Cédric Malaquin, Technology & Market, at Yole comments: “With LTE, RF front-end market growth came from carrier aggregation and MIMO technologies. 5G will augment RF front-end market growth with additional frequency bands, dual connectivity implementation, and the transition to 4×4 MIMO in the downlink direction, plus a trend towards 2×2 MIMO for the uplink.”

A leading company, Apple is also part of this attractive playground. Therefore, for the second year, Apple has decided to adopt innovative technology in the RF area. Along with module from Qorvo and Skyworks, the company has chosen the latest and most advanced filter and packaging technology from Broadcom, formerly Avago Technologies. “This technology is now available in all versions of the iPhone Xs, Xs max and Xr models”, explains Stéphane Elisabeth, Expert Cost Analyst at System Plus Consulting. And he adds: “This FEM is the first from Broadcom to include a flip-chip power amplifier on GaAs substrate and advanced EMI shielding, allowing frequency band sharing in the same SiP.”

Yole Group of Companies including Yole and System Plus Consulting are covering the RF electronics technologies and related applications for a while. They propose a valuable collection of technology, market and reverse engineering reports to describe this industry and point out the technology evolution and its impact on the market. The battle for 5G still rages: what could we expect? Integration in-module or with discrete parts… More info.