Broadcom demos new 5G WiFi 2×2 MIMO Combo Chip for smartphones, to bring 867Mbps downloads

While the 802.11ac standard has started making its way to high end smartphones, they’ve been somewhat gimped compared to more full featured solutions. The new Broadcom BCM4354 SoC is all set to change that as it brings the first 5G 802.11ac 2×2 MIMO system on chip for smartphones. This is an improvement over the 1×1 MIMO devices used by current smartphones. As a side benefit, power efficiency will go up by 25 percent.

Improvements:

Doubles throughput for faster video and music downloads
Improves power efficiency up to 25 percent when using Wi-Fi over 1×1 MIMO solutions
Increases wireless coverage up to 30 percent compared to current deployments

The 2×2 MIMO system will double the throughput and enable speeds of upto 867Mbps while also bringing a tangible increase in coverage by up to 30 percent. The BCM4354 is an improvement over current solutions that employ multiple antennas and hence reduces implementation complexity for designers. The reduced size and power efficiency plays a major role in bringing 2×2 MIMO to smartphones.

Features:

867 Mbps PHY rate/80MHz channel bandwidth
SDIO 3.0 and low-power PCIe host interfaces for WLAN; UART and USB for BT
Android, Windows and Chrome-based operating systems support
Low Density Parity Check Codes (LDPC), Space Time Block Coding (STBC), TurboQAM™ and high-accuracy indoor location
Dual Band combo chip with support for 5G 2×2 MIMO WiFi, BT 4.1/BLE, Rezence charging, FM radio

An interesting addition to the BCM4354 SoC is support for the A4WP standard pioneered by Rezence. The latest standard for Wireless charging that let’s you place your phone in any orientation over the charging plate. The Rezence standard supports Android, Windows and Chrome based devices.

Additionally, you also get the latest in Transmit Beamforming that allegedly improves range & transfer rates in congested environments. Expect to see BCM4354 based devices soon as the SoC is now in production.