Samsung developing 28GHz small cell for US Verizon 

Samsung Electronics was developing 28GHz 5G small cell to supply to US carrier Verizon, TheElec has confirmed.

The cells will be made using Qualcomm’s 5G chipset, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

Samsung’s network business has previously supplied 4G small cells to the US carrier, made based on Intel’s chipset. The South Korean tech giant have been supplying them to Verizon since 2016.

Small cell refers to small base stations used in-doors settings __ those used out-doors are called macro cells.

Samsung’s 4G small cell, dubbed Samsung 4G LTE Extender 2, costs US$249.99 on Verizon’s homepage. Its size is similar to that of an iPad but it weighs more at around 500 grams.

Those who purchase them can install it at their homes for stronger 4G LTE signals. They don’t require cable laying __ just like Wi-Fi, all they need to do is connect them with the Ethernet cable.

Qualcomm launched a 5G small cell chipset earlier this year. The chipset was an alpha version as of last year, the people said. 

There was no incentive for Samsung to develop its own small cell chipset and the two companies have been collaborating on the chipset since 2018.

Meanwhile, Verizon has received criticism for the low coverage of its 28GHz spectrum 5G network. 

The deployment of Samsung-made 5G small cells at homes will provide consumers with a more stable connection and increase coverage and quell come of these criticisms.