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32 Next-Gen Connectivity for Smart Living Manufacturers are also adding more non-cellular bands into handsets to provide faster networking and support new location-based services (Figure 1). For example, Wi-Fi 6E/7 expands Wi-Fi into the 6GHz band and provides extra-wide 160MHz–320MHz channels to offer higher performance for applications such as high-definition streaming, virtual reality, and peer-to-peer gaming while easing congestion of heavily used Wi-Fi spectrum. UWB technology, first implemented in premium phones, is also increasingly appearing in mid-tier and mass-market phones. UWB enables distance and location to be calculated indoors or outdoors with unprecedented accuracy—within a few centimeters—and is enabling entire new categories of location-based applications and devices. As its name suggests, UWB uses channels that are at least 500MHz wide over a broad 3.1GHz–10.6GHz frequency range with a (current) focus of 6GHz–9GHz in mobile applications. Manufacturers are also adding the new GPS L5 and L2 bands, which offer advantages such as increased positioning accuracy for mission-critical applications. Meanwhile, smartphones are adding an ever-growing number of complex combinations of multiple cellular bands as mobile operators seek to optimize their existing spectrum to offer higher data rates. Many operators are using E-UTRAN New Radio—Dual Connectivity (EN-DC), which enables them to deploy 5G data speeds much more quickly in certain regions by using a 4G anchor band in combination with 5G data bands. Carrier aggregation (CA), which combines multiple component carriers (CCs) to provide greater bandwidth and faster data rates, is becoming much more complex as more bands are added to combination options. 5G defines hundreds of new combinations of up to 16 CCs, each with contiguous bandwidth up to 100MHz, for a total aggregated bandwidth up to about 1GHz. These include challenging new aggregations of two or more low-frequency bands, such as B20 + B28 combinations in Europe or Asia and B5 + B12, B13, or B14 in North America, which offer the advantage of extended range and greater throughput. Manufacturers are also implementing higher transmit power to increase coverage with higher-frequency signals, which don't travel as far as those using lower frequencies. Already in widespread use is Power Class 2, which doubles transmit power at the antenna to 26dB, and the industry is currently exploring Power Class 1.5, which specifies a further two-fold power increase to 29dB. Industrial Design Innovation Smartphone industrial design is evolving rapidly as manufacturers seek new ways to differentiate their products and offer exciting new consumer experiences. Revolutionary designs include phones with expanding rollable screens and flip phones with foldable displays. Displays that wrap around the edges of phones offer a sleek, cutting-edge appearance while maximizing the screen area available to consumers. Physical buttons are being replaced with virtual controls, typically located on the lower or side edges of these handsets. And manufacturers continue to add other new features that users value, such as better displays, more cameras, multiple biometric authentication methods, higher- quality speakers, and larger batteries. While they are highly attractive to consumers, these features consume space, reducing the area available for the RF front end (RFFE) while also placing new restrictions on where RFFE components and antennas can be located. Figure 1: As manufacturers add more non-cellular bands to provide faster networking and support new location-based services, RF challenges continue to increase. (Source: Qorvo)