Experts: High power consumption of 5G mobile phones will restrict their market launch

The 5G tide is coming in full force. In addition to chip manufacturers, operators and equipment manufacturers working hard, terminal manufacturers are also paddling hard.

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Recently, the relevant parameters of the upcoming Samsung S10 mobile phone were exposed by the media. Among the various parameters, the battery capacity is particularly noteworthy. It is reported that in the S10 series, the S10E/Lite will be equipped with a 3100 mAh battery.

Last August, Motorola also provided a 2000 mAh battery in the 5G module for the Moto Z3 phone. The Moto Z3 phone itself has a 3000 mAh battery, and the total capacity of the two is 5000 mAh. This is consistent with the battery capacity of the rumored 5G version of the S10 phone. Such a battery capacity is unprecedented for mobile phones of major brands.

Why

Do we need such a large battery? Are 5G phones really as power-hungry as rumored?

The more work you do, the more energy you consume.

"There is no definite news yet that the Samsung S10 is a 5G phone. But what is certain is that 5G phones consume more power than 4G phones." Xiang Ligang, CEO of communications portal Feixiang.com, said in an interview with Science and Technology Daily that because 5G phones need to process more tasks and require greater bandwidth, they consume more power. This is a normal phenomenon in the evolution of mobile phones.

"A 5G mobile phone is like a person who does a lot of physical work. The more work he does, the more energy he consumes." Xiang Ligang said that if he wants 5G mobile phones to have faster network speeds and higher spectrum utilization, he has to sacrifice

Quantity is inevitable.

Specifically, many factors lead to high power consumption of 5G mobile phones. First, compared with 3G and 4G mobile phones, the number of antennas in 5G mobile phones has increased significantly. "5G terminal equipment uses Massive MIMO (massive multiple input and multiple output) antenna technology, which requires at least 8 antennas to be built into the mobile phone, and each antenna has its own power amplifier, which will generate relatively large power consumption." Xiang Ligang said.

Secondly, the power consumption of the screen is also an important aspect. The high screen resolution requires high processing power from the CPU and GPU; the large screen requires more backlight, both of which will lead to increased power consumption.

In addition, when 5G network coverage is low, if you connect to the 5G network, the phone will frequently search for signals. "The search itself will also accelerate power consumption." Zhang Peng, news editor-in-chief of Beijing Antutu Technology Co., Ltd., told Science and Technology Daily.

It is also reported that major chip manufacturers have not yet launched SoC (Service Operation Center) solutions with built-in 5G modems. Neither the Snapdragon 855, Exynos 9820, nor the Kirin 980 has built-in support for 5G networks, which requires separate external Snapdragon X50, Exynos 5100, and Balong 5000 to achieve 5G functions, which undoubtedly increases the power consumption of mobile phones.

For example, the Snapdragon 855 uses a 7nm process, while the external X50 modem uses a 28nm process, which will obviously affect the battery life of the phone and even pose new challenges to the phone's heat control capabilities. Similarly, the Exynos 5100 uses a 10nm process, which is also one generation behind the Exynos 9820's 8nm process.

"Since 5G mobile phones have added 5G network-related modules on the basis of mobile phones, it is inevitable that power consumption will increase," said Zhang Peng.

Effective management may reduce energy consumption

"In fact, whether it is a 3G mobile phone, a 4G mobile phone or a 5G mobile phone, this situation will be encountered in the early stages of design." Xiang Ligang said that we cannot deny the prospects of 5G mobile phones just because they consume a lot of power.

He believes that the problem of high power consumption in 5G mobile phones can be alleviated through effective management. "Take a multi-core CPU as an example. Each core is completely independent and has its own front-end bus, which will not cause conflicts. When more data needs to be processed or more tasks need to be run, multiple cores are awakened. When not needed, some cores can be reduced to reduce energy consumption." Xiang Ligang said that 5G mobile phones can also reduce power consumption in this way. When making a call, other functions are not needed, and only one core is used, which will not consume too much power.

However, compared with 3G and 4G mobile phones, 5G mobile phones are more difficult to manage. This is because different frequency bands correspond to networks of different standards. In addition to LTE, there are also GSM, WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, CDMA2000 and other networks that are concentrated in 5G mobile phones, which increases the difficulty of managing mobile phones. Xiang Ligang compared networks of different standards to lanes. He said: "When one lane becomes eight lanes, more cars can run, but the overall fuel consumption also increases, and the difficulty of managing lanes also increases." Zhang Peng also said that 5G mobile phones test the optimization capabilities of chip manufacturers and mobile phone manufacturers.

In addition, technological improvements can also promote energy consumption reduction, such as using new materials, better chips built into mobile phones, using low-energy accessories such as AMOLED screens, increasing battery capacity or enhancing CPU processing power, etc. "However, these technologies are not targeted at 5G mobile phones, and 4G mobile phones can also be improved in these ways." Xiang Ligang said frankly, "Reducing energy consumption is an eternal topic for mobile phones."

In Zhang Peng's view, 5G mobile phone manufacturers will focus on user experience. If the battery life is too different from that of 4G mobile phones, manufacturers will not easily launch their products to the market. "Currently, most 5G mobile phones are still in the internal testing stage of manufacturers, and the actual battery life is still unknown."

"In fact, compared with the high power consumption, the main problem of 5G mobile phones is still the high price." Zhang Peng said that all mobile phones that support 5G networks this year are basically flagship phones. "The Galaxy S10 X may sell for more than 10,000 yuan. Compared with 4G mobile phones with the same configuration, 5G mobile phones may be more than 1,000 yuan more expensive.

Xiang Ligang and Zhang Peng both believe that at this stage, 5G network coverage is insufficient, the price is high, and some technical bottlenecks have not yet been overcome. Against this background, it is too early for ordinary users to buy 5G mobile phones.