MWC 2025: “In the age of AI, high-performance 5G connectivity is required” – Cristiano Amon, Qualcomm

CNME Editor Mark Forker is at one of the world’s largest connectivity events in the form of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and US technology behemoth Qualcomm has unveiled a plethora of solutions at the event, one of which they claim will ‘redefine mobile broadband’. 

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. announced its latest products and milestones in wireless connectivity and on-device AI at MWC Barcelona.

Cristiano Amon, President and CEO of Qualcomm Incorporated, stressed the need for high-performance 5G.

“For 40 years, Qualcomm has been a leader in next-generation wireless technologies, from 3G to 5G and now into 5G Advanced. At MWC 2025, we continue to be the company setting the benchmark for cellular connectivity, and the Qualcomm^® X85 5G Modem-RF ensures connectivity leadership for the Android ecosystem,” said Cristiano Amon, president and chief executive officer, Qualcomm Incorporated. “In the age of AI, and upcoming hybrid and agentic experiences, industry leading, high-performance 5G connectivity is required.”

Delivering Modem Leadership

Qualcomm Technologies unveiled the Qualcomm X85 5G Modem-RF, its eighth-generation 5G modem-to-antenna solution and fourth-generation AI-powered 5G connectivity platform.

This advanced platform sets new standards for 5G and gives connectivity leadership to the Android ecosystem, achieving peak download speeds up to 12.5 Gbps¹and supporting sub-6 and mmWave for seamless streaming, downloads, and gaming. The Qualcomm X85 features an improved Qualcomm® 5G AI Processor with a hardware tensor accelerator, enhancing user experiences through AI-driven improvements in speed, efficiency, coverage, and power consumption. Read more here.

The Company also unveiled new 4G IoT modems, including one with an industry-first integrated SIM (iSIM) to help deliver ultra-low power connectivity across different networks and IoT devices ranging from smart meters, smart city, parking, healthcare devices, wearables, IP cameras, point-of-sale terminals, and more. Read more here.

Bringing 5G Open RAN to bear

The Company announced that its 5G Open RAN (O-RAN) solutions are gaining significant momentum with leading network operators and infrastructure providers around the world. Viettel, Vietnam’s largest mobile network operator, has deployed a live 5G O-RAN Massive MIMO network using Qualcomm Dragonwing™ Cellular Infrastructure platforms.

In addition, NTT DOCOMO, Japan’s largest mobile network operator, has selected O-RAN virtualized Distributed Units (vDUs) that leverage the high performance and power efficiency of Qualcomm Dragonwing™ X100 Accelerator Cards for its nationwide 5G vRAN network deployment. Read more here.

Redefining Mobile Broadband

Qualcomm Technologies has redefined mobile broadband with the launch of the Qualcomm Dragonwing™ Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) Gen 4 Elite Platform, the world’s first 5G Advanced FWA platform. Powered by the Qualcomm X85 5G Modem-RF, this platform delivers ultra-fast wireless mobile broadband experiences, with downlink speeds up to 12.5 Gbps.

It features on-device AI-enhanced traffic classification and 40 TOPS edge AI integration, significantly boosting network performance and paving the way for advanced generative AI innovation at the network edge. The next-gen FWA platform is equipped with a powerful quad-core processor, dedicated hardware acceleration, integrated 5G modem-RF, GNSS, Tri-band Wi-Fi 7, and broad carrier middleware support, making it a comprehensive solution for the future of wireless connectivity. Read more here.

Leading the industry to 6G

Qualcomm Technologies continues to lead the industry with advanced wireless research across 5G Advanced, 6G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and UWB, focusing on foundational evolution for ubiquitous coverage and massive capacity, operational optimization through AI and digital twins, and enabling emerging services like immersive experiences and integrated sensing. The latest wireless innovations will be on display at MWC. Read more here.

Showcasing Edge AI Leadership

At MWC, Qualcomm is showcasing leadership in hybrid AI through a series of never-before-seen demonstrations and collaborations that reveal how on-device AI and edge computing unlocks the full potential of AI on devices, creating more intuitive and responsive user experiences:

• Qualcomm Technologies and IBM announced an expanded collaboration to drive enterprise-grade generative AI solutions across edge and cloud. This collaboration includes enabling support for IBM’s Granite models through the Qualcomm^® AI Hub, and showcasing integration of watsonx.governance across edge devices powered by Qualcomm Technologies’ platforms to help address security, efficiency, reliability, and governance on AI solutions for businesses.
• Qualcomm will also be demonstrating on-device, multimodal experiences showcasing agentic AI across Snapdragon powered smartphones, PCs and smart glasses. On smartphones powered by Snapdragon® 8 Elite mobile platforms, they will demonstrate a variety of use cases using an AI agent user interface, including tasks featuring music, navigation, weather, and messaging information. On Snapdragon X Series PCs, they will demonstrate on-device commercial AI experiences across media and productivity applications. The Company will also be demonstrating an on-device, multimodal agentic AI demo with a smartphone powered by Snapdragon 8 Elite and TCL Ray-Neo Smart Glasses with a large language model (LLM) running on the phone.