SkyBlue™ Surpasses Targets Achieved with Envelope Tracking While Simplifying Implementation; Products Incorporating Technology Shipping to Tier One Customer
Skyworks Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: SWKS), an innovator of high performance analog semiconductors connecting people, places and things, today launched SkyBlue™, a new and revolutionary enabling technology that enhances both the power capability and efficiency in LTE amplifiers and front-end solutions. Designs utilizing SkyBlue™ technology not only deliver twice the power of envelope and average power tracking systems available on the market today, but across much broader power ranges. These efficiencies can be more than 15-20 percent in medium to high power ranges where an LTE system operates. Further, these efficiency and power enhancements are achieved with a much simpler implementation when compared to envelope tracking, making it easier for OEMs worldwide to deploy. The end result is envelope tracking-like system efficiency with the simplicity of average power tracking. In the first half of 2016, Skyworks will commence shipments of products leveraging SkyBlue™ with a tier one customer.
“While average power tracking is currently the most popular method to achieve higher power and efficiency gains in LTE amplifiers, Skyworks believes SkyBlue™ will quickly replace this technology as it delivers industry-leading performance in a straightforward design,” said Peter L. Gammel, chief technology officer for Skyworks Solutions. “Customers and OEMs can use their existing infrastructure to implement SkyBlue™, enabling some of the highest performing platforms with the shortest times to market when compared to competing envelope tracking alternatives which are more difficult to calibrate.”
Skyworks plans to leverage SkyBlue™ throughout its next generation of highly integrated SkyOne®, SkyOne®Ultra and SkyLiTE™ product families, as well as its multimode, multiband power amplifiers covering all application segments.
About SkyBlue™
SkyBlue™ is Skyworks’ revolutionary approach to enhance power efficiency and capability in LTE amplifiers. Taking a fresh look at customer challenges, Skyworks’ engineers dared to imagine a new high efficiency system that could capitalize on recent co-developments in voltage management and power amplifiers. In addition to eliminating the complex calibration required for envelope tracking systems, SkyBlue™ maintains efficiency at several backed off power levels with no significant impact to efficiency, even when compensating for varying losses in multiband devices. Further, SkyBlue™ has demonstrated Class 2 operation (26 dBm antenna power compared to 23 dBm antenna power in Class 3 operation), which results in much wider cell coverage within existing networks. SkyBlue™ will be particularly critical in helping meet emerging requirements for additional front-end output power demanded by carrier aggregation and high power user equipment (HPUE) demands for cell edge improvements by TDD carriers.
"While average power tracking is currently the most popular method to achieve higher power and efficiency gains in LTE amplifiers, Skyworks believes SkyBlue™ will quickly replace this technology as it delivers industry-leading performance in a straightforward design. Customers and OEMs can use their existing infrastructure to implement SkyBlue™, enabling some of the highest performing platforms with the shortest times to market when compared to competing envelope tracking alternatives which are more difficult to calibrate."
The potential market for this is every new cellular device which supports LTE (which is almost all of them). Based on Skyworks’ information, the effect of SkyBlue on end users (the person using the phone) will be cost savings, faster data (internet) connection speeds longer battery life and (maybe) slimmer phones.
If there truly is nothing on the market which can match this performance, this new product could easily become very widely used.
<?I> While average power tracking is currently the most popular method to achieve higher power and efficiency gains in LTE amplifiers, **Skyworks believes SkyBlue™ will quickly replace this technology as it delivers industry-leading performance in a straightforward design**
Pop quiz: who does this remind you of?
If you said SolarEdge (SEDG) then you are right. They came up with a quantum leap technology that is letting them take more and more of the pie. This feels like the same thing to me. OEMs can use their existing infrastructure to adopt a technology that is leaps above the competition.
At least that what it sounds like to me. Oh, and who it their tier-1 customer? Is it Apple getting ready for iPhone 7? (With OLED?)
And this...
[http://www.investors.com/news/technology/apple-suppliers-cir...](http://www.investors.com/news/technology/apple-suppliers-cirrus-logic-analog-devices-begin-iphone-7-prep/?ven=YahooCP&src=AURLLED&ven=yahoo)
**Apple Suppliers Cirrus Logic, Analog Devices Begin iPhone 7 Prep**
*Apple (AAPL) suppliers Cirrus Logic (CRUS) and Analog Devices (ADI) are lapping up foundry capacity in the back half of 2016 in anticipation of the iPhone 7, expected to be released in September, according to a report.*
*The duo recently requested that foundry and back-end service providers reserve a significant portion of production capacity in Q2 and Q3, industry insiders told [Digitimes.com](http://Digitimes.com).*
*Apple’s iPhone 7 is expected to be thinner, ditching the headphone jack in favor of a Lightning cord connection.*
Yea! We get to throw away perfectly good headphones for ones that only work in the iPhone!
Sounds pretty good for SWKS
Did not read the product page link you provided, but I believe from the info Saul posted that this technology will also provide greater operating range which could be really important to people who have kind of sketchy service (like me, my phone works OK on the East side of my house, but cuts out on the West side).
Apple’s iPhone 7 is expected to be thinner, ditching the headphone jack in favor of a Lightning cord connection.
Yea! We get to throw away perfectly good headphones for ones that only work in the iPhone!
Well, it goes way beyond headphones. The 3.5mm jack is also used to connect it to cars, among other things.
So everyone would have to carry around a 3.5mm-Lightning adapter or cable. Would be a pain. And a huge profit for Apple…
I just got a pair of outrageously good Bowers & Wilkins P7 headphones (incredible how good it sounds with simply a smartphone feeding it…check out the refurbs at Crutchfield if you’re looking for something like this)…no way in the world I’m ditching those for some lame Beats headphones.
Hopefully the cars need will be able to connect to the iphone using bluetooth or some other NFT (IOT) (preferably using a SWKS chip), along with the car being able to charge the phone wirelessly.
The Future!