Yole and System Plus Consulting have investigated disruptive RF technologies and related markets in depth to point out the latest innovations and underline the business opportunities.
In the 5G’s Impact on RF Front-End and Connectivity for Cellphones report by Yole, their analysts give a detailed analysis of each technology’s strengths and weaknesses and deliver an ecosystem snapshot. This snapshot includes market trends and forecasts, market shares, ecosystem and US/China trade war analysis. The study also points out COVID-19’s impact on the RF front-end and connectivity business.
The consumers appetite for data has not been reduced by the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, it is the opposite. People realized the importance of being connected during lockdown. Most of the data traffic increase has been handled by fixed networks, but mobile networks also have been affected. Many service providers had to adapt to the situation.
This technology & market report is linked to System Plus Consulting's comparative analysis, RF Front-End Module Comparison 2020 – Volume 2, published in Q2 2020. In this report, the reverse engineering & consulting company proposes a technical and cost overview of Huawei’s Mate and P series Radio Frequency Front-End Module technologies from 2015 to 2019. This new report highlights the technical choices made by the leading Chinese OEM over the years.
The early 5G implementation started towards the end of 2019. This technology has a strong potential for RF front-end market growth and is very attractive to many companies across the world. In parallel, sizing market opportunities and highlighting technology trends appeared to be useful for the semiconductor industry. The RF front-end and the connectivity markets involve a substantial amount of technology platforms competing with each over, many of which having a strong market disruption potential.
Stéphane Elisabeth, Technology & Cost Analyst at System Plus Consulting, stated that a drop in the number, area and cost of American components is revealed in the latest Mate Series (Smartphone by Huawei). In addition, they underline Huawei’s ability to still produce a highly competitive smartphone with 5G Sub-6GHz technology despite the political situation.
In the Report Yole and System Plus try to answer the following questions:
- What are the economic and technological challenges of the RF front-end industry?
- What are the key drivers?
- Who are the suppliers to watch, and what innovative technologies are they working on?
- What is Huawei’s strategy in this highly competitive context, in front of the US-based companies?
Whether fixed or mobile, service providers have a great window for migrating consumers to broadband internet access and to the new 5G and Wi-Fi6 plus fibre standards, announces Yole in its latest RF electronics report. The benefit at the network operator level is the efficiency of the new technologies, which would reduce cost of operation. And as early adopter consumers are ready to pay extra fees for the improved network and compelling data plans, the return on investment for the carrier will come sooner.
China, South Korea, and USA are early adopter countries of 5G where all major carriers have launched their network and where consumers are technology enthusiasts. In Japan, in Europe and for the rest of the world, 5G network rollout is moving forward at a slower pace. The Chinese market will pull most of the demand for 5G smartphones in 2020.
Cédric Malaquin from Yole says that RF front-end and connectivity markets are poised for double digit growth. When we purchase a smartphone, we often look at the battery lifetime and photographic performance. Then come system performance and connectivity, which is attributed to SoC performance. One must also notice the fundamental role of the RF front-end in system performance. It directly impacts the device power consumption and is essential for routing, filtering, and amplifying signals to and from the antennas.
LTE, LTE-Advanced and Wi-Fi 5 standards have contributed to the rising complexity of RF front-end solutions in handsets. 5G and Wi-Fi 6 are no exception as both standards introduce new features that will increase the RF content and complexity. To cope with more stringent requirements in data transmission speed and better spectral efficiency, a 5G handset will feature a 4x4 MIMO downlink for frequencies above 2.5 GHz.
According to Antoine Bonnabel, Technology & Market Analyst for the Power & Wireless team of Yole: “It will also have NR frequency bands along with EN-DC of 5G with LTE. There will be a 2x2 MIMO uplink in some cases and likely a diversity transmit link. Sounding reference signals will also be mandatory in 5G handset to optimize the radio link with an active antenna system within range”.
On top of that, 5G devices will have to meet the definition of high-power user equipment for TDD NR bands and to be capable of operating with at least 100 MHz of bandwidth. CA will be applied to 5G as it was for LTE.
Other features will be evaluated, such as supplementary uplink, which could affect the RF content. Wi-Fi 6 will essentially democratize the use of 2x2 MIMO for up and downlink. Wi-Fi 6E will extend the frequency coverage of Wi-Fi signals to 6 GHz. New use cases such as file sharing or augmented reality and smart remote control are driving the need for a precise positioning technology. Thus, a new UWB radio will be added in handsets, further increasing the RF content.
Overall, the RF front-end and connectivity market was valued at US$15.2 billion in 2019. It will grow 11% CAGR between 2020 and 2025 to reach US$25.4 billion by 2025 according to the 5G’s Impact on RF Front-End and Connectivity for Cellphones report.
