RF Front-End Module Comparison 2020 – Volume 1

Each year System Plus opens hundreds of Front-End Modules (FEMs) and components to provide an overview of the Radio Frequency (RF) FEM market in selected flagship smartphones. Gathering the information into one report offers an opportunity to keep track of the evolution of this technology market.

Technical and cost overview of the latest Radio Frequency Front-End module technologies, with deep analysis of the Apple iPhone 11 Pro, Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ and OnePlus 7 Pro 5G.

This year, System Plus Consulting proposes different volumes on technical and cost comparison of Smartphones’ RFFEM. Every report will focus on a specific subject, that can be a player’s evolution, a specific technology or a comparison of flagships devices.

This first volume provides insights into technology and cost data for FEMs and several components found in three smartphones: Apple iPhone 11 Pro, Samsung Galaxy Note10+ and OnePlus 7 Pro 5G. It features disruptive choices like double side Ball Grid Array (BGA) packaging for High Volume Manufacturing (HVM) from suppliers like Broadcom. Incredible High Performance (IHP) Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) filter adoption is revealed in the Apple iPhone series. Also, it reveals new competitors in the HVM Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW) filter market, like Skyworks.

With teardowns of the smartphones, the main RF modules and components have been extracted and physically analyzed, from the output of the transceiver to the antenna. Packaging, sizes and technologies are studied to provide a large panel of technical and economical choices and an overview of the market.

Moreover, the report includes an overview of other flagship smartphones released by the end of 2019 and provides a statistical analysis for most of front-end modules. It also tries to explain the smartphone makers’ choices and supplier tendencies. Wifi and Bluetooth module analysis are not included in this report.