TL;DR
- Qualcomm has announced the X85 modem, which is expected to power next-generation flagship Android devices.
- The new modem offers peak downlink and uplink speeds of 12.5Gbps and 3.7Gbps respectively.
- The modem is expected to appear in the first commercial devices in the second half of the year.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite chip offers some impressive connectivity features, and that’s in large part due to the Snapdragon X80 modem. Now, the company has announced a new modem, which is expected to power next-generation flagship Android phones.
The newly announced Qualcomm X85 modem is an iterative change compared to the Snapdragon X80. Expect a small but notable speed boost compared to the previous part, with 12.5Gbps downlink speeds and 3.7Gbps uplink speeds. However, Qualcomm says the latter is a first for the smartphone industry.
Qualcomm’s recent modems have also come with AI smarts, and the company says the new silicon is the first to offer an AI-powered Data Traffic Engine. This engine and other AI-related enhancements mean the modem can adapt more quickly to your needs, such as video calls, online gaming, and other tasks.
What else does the Qualcomm X85 offer?
Other claimed firsts by the company include downlink carrier aggregation with 400MHz bandwidth, support for the FRMCS bands used for railway operations, and Turbo DSDA (Dual-SIM Dual-Active) for faster connectivity when using two 5G SIMs.
Otherwise, the X85 modem also offers integrated satellite connectivity, as seen last year, as well as Release 17 and Release 18 support.
Qualcomm says the X85 modem is already being sampled by customers and is expected to land in commercial devices in the second half of the year. We expect the new modem to be paired with the rumored Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 processor. So it’s very likely that we’ll see this part in the OnePlus 14, some Galaxy S26 series models, and the Xiaomi 16 series.
