8 December 2011

RFMD’s PowerSmart platform and RF724x 3G/4G PAs power next-gen smartphones

RF Micro Devices Inc of Greensboro, NC, USA has started volume production of multiple 3G/4G power amplifiers (PAs) in support of two smartphone families produced by a leading North America-based smartphone maker. The two most recent smartphones supported by RFMD feature its PowerSmart power platform and RF724x family of ultra-high-efficiency power amplifiers.

The first smartphone, featuring PowerSmart, is an all-touch handset featuring a 3.2” high-resolution display, a 5MP camera with flash and video recording, and pre-installed social networking apps. The second smartphone, featuring RFMD’s RF7241, RF7242, RF7244, RF7245 and RF7258 PAs, is a full-featured smartphone with a high-resolution touch display, a highly tactile keyboard, and a precise optical trackpad. It will be available in multiple triple-band 3G versions featuring RFMD’s 3G/4G PAs exclusively.

“RFMD’s industry-leading 3G/4G products continue to gain design momentum with the world’s leading smartphone manufacturers,” claims Eric Creviston, president of RFMD’s Cellular Products Group (CPG). “Similar to calendar 2011, we believe RFMD will be a clear share gainer during calendar 2012, not only in UMTS/HSPA+, but also in 4G LTE,” he adds.

RFMD’s RF724x UMTS/HSPA+ power amplifiers are single-mode 3G/4G components used in smartphones, tablets and other high-performance data-centric connected devices. They deliver high peak efficiency of 48-51% (significantly above current competitive offerings, it is claimed). The product family currently covers WCDMA bands 1, 2, 4, 5 and 8, addressing the most common UMTS/HSPA+ frequency bands and band combinations.

RFMD’s PowerSmart power platform is a new product category for multi-mode, multi-band cellular RF architectures. It features a new RF Configurable Power Core that delivers multi-band, multi-mode coverage of all cellular communications modulation schemes, including GSM/GPRS, EDGE, EDGE Evolution, CDMA, 3G (TD-SCDMA or WCDMA) and 4G (HSPA+, LTE or WiMAX). The RF Configurable Power Core (which performs all power amplification and power management functionality) is compliant with all current and known future 4G data standards (HSPA+, LTE QPSK, LTE 16QAM, and LTE 64QAM).

The PowerSmart power platform also includes all necessary switching and signal conditioning functionality in a compact reference design, providing smartphone makers a single scalable source for the entire cellular front end.

Tags: RFMD Smartphone PAs

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