Technology, Process and Cost Comparison

RFFEM Comparison 2023 – SatCom Chipset in Huawei and Apple Smartphone

By Yole SystemPlus — Feb 2023

A deep analysis of first two emergency satellite communication chipset in Apple and Huawei premium phone

SPR23713

Key Features

Detailed photos
Precise measurements
Materials analysis
Manufacturing process flow
Supply chain evaluation
Manufacturing cost analysis
Chipset Comparison
Main Components’ RF functional block

What's new

The first Mobile Satellite Services handsets
Both OEMs has spent billions in this feature through the smartphones but also through the constellation’s owner company like Global Star
Each smartphone has its own specific design for the GPS coordinate reception, doppler compensation and transmit/receive RF Front-End
Introduction of the third generation of GPS receiver from Broadcom using N6RF technology node available on the market in High Volume Manufacturing

The cellular and connectivity network has only 14 % of worldwide coverage. Today, customer health is the main aspect where Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) are looking in to provide the best services. One of the last examples is the car crash sensitive features implemented in the Apple Watch Ultra release in 2022. In 2019, more than 3 billion people dies from preventable injury, and among then 0.7 billion are from falls. In this last number, a large part appends in dead zone and this where Huawei and Apple choose to innovate in 2022 with Emergency Satellite Communication. This feature has been brought to the customers with several investments from these two OEMs into GPS constellation owner like GlobalStar or Beidou. This represents the first milestone in the satellite communication and may open the gate to data, voice, and video sharing through satellite network.

In 2022, the world first smartphone to features the Emergency Satellite Communication was Huawei in ASEA area with the Mate 50 Pro working on Beidu Constellation, but the first advertised smartphone is the Apple iPhone 14 Pro on US area working on Global Star Constellation. These two smartphones have a unique chipset to provide the connection with the satellite coupled with GPS coordinates. This application to work need to have a perfect alignment with the Satellite and the connection need to be established for a certain time to allows the exchange with the smartphone. To do so, each smartphone has the best-in-class GPS receiver to compensate the doppler effect, calculate the future position of the satellite and coordinate the communication through the cellular transceiver and a specific front-end chipset to receive and transmit the signal on the S/L frequency band.

This report will analyze these two solutions and compared them at the chipset, technology, process, and cost level to highlight the differences and the similarity between both designs. One interesting fact is that Apple rely on third generation of GPS Rx from Broadcom for its ultra-low power consumption and its performances manufactured in the last N6RF technology node from TSMC. Also, on the LNA side, even if the reception from the satellite is not available yet, Huawei implemented a specific LNA in its design for future upgrade or hidden feedback from the satellites.

The report contains a complete analysis of the chipsets, including a detailed analysis of the Transceivers, PAs, switches, LNAs, filtering dies, and the GPS receivers RFIC. The report also features a cost analysis and a price estimation of the chipsets. Finally, it also integrates a comparison between both solutions in term of technical choices and cost.

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RFFEM Comparison 2023 – SatCom Chipset in Huawei and Apple Smartphone

A deep analysis of first two emergency satellite communication chipset in Apple and Huawei premium phone