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Qualcomm has made significant leaps in technology to produce its new 888 system on a chip, unveiled at the virtual Snapdragon Tech Summit Tuesday. Although limited details were available on the first day of the two-day conference, it is clear the Snapdragon 888 processor will define a powerful new generation of Android smartphones for the class of 2021.

The new SoC features a powerful X60 5G modem that will be faster and operate more efficiently along nascent 5G networks. While last year's Snapdragon 865 broke tradition by requiring a separately housed modem chip, the Snapdragon 888 brings back the fully integrated 5G modem and RF front end. The result will be slimmer phones with more room for other critical components such as batteries. It will also help lower costs and offer longer battery life.

According to Techanlysis Research analyst Bob O'Donnell, "It gives you everything you need in a single package and theoretically makes phone design easier, cheaper and just better integrated."

With increased communication speeds between 10 and 100 times current 4G speeds, 5G will bring improvements to teleconferencing, advanced augmented reality apps and gaming.