According to reports from Korea, Samsung’s upcoming flagship devices – the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus – will “usher in the LTE Gigabit Era”. Up to now, very few devices have been confirmed to cross the threshold of attaining 1Gbps download speeds, and most of those have been experimental devices. The Galaxy S9, with the new Exynos 9810 chipset inside, will probably be the first device available to customers that can theoretically reach 1Gbps download speeds.
You heard that correctly, 1Gbps download speeds will theoretically be possible now with the Samsung Galaxy S9. The faster processor on the Exynos 9810 and the 6x carrier aggregation (CA) capabilities will make this possible. 4G Gigabit LTE means that in practical terms, you can you can download a 1GB movie in eight seconds. In theoretical environments, the Samsung Galaxy S8 will probably top out at 900Mbps, given its 5x CA modem.
That said, we all have to understand that there are extremely few networks in the world that will be able to give 6x CA, and even then, these will be experimental networks. Mobile carriers in South Korea and the US will reportedly roll out 6x CA capabilities this year, so when they do, the Galaxy S9 will be able to take advantage of those networks. That’s future proofing the device, in a way – if you don’t upgrade to another device after a year.
If network infrastructure all over the world were up to par, we’d consider this a technological breakthrough of huge implications. In reality, very few networks even offer 5x CA, so it will take a while for this technology to result in huge download speed gains for users. And the speed at which users upgrade phones will probably make this capability a non-factor, in any case.
SOURCE: Business Korea
