The Tegra 4i is the first and LAST Nvidia integrated LTE modem SOC.
Wow..that's quite surprising..I would have thought they'd already be in the middle of developing the next version by now. I was expecting a A53 based version from them. Maybe the market is just too crowded and they don't see the returns.
Nvidia's external modem will continue to be available.
Did they ever sell significant quantities of the external modem? I doubt the business case is justified if they plan to only develop external modems in future.
Wow, T4i must have tanked really hard if nVidia is giving up on integrated modems right after their first try.
Yea..one reason I think is that T4i was just too late. And given the abundance of quad A7 based solutions in the market..that must have had an impact on pricing and demand as well.
For major SoC suppliers, who do we have with integrated baseband processor? Mediatek, Qualcomm Broadcom and Samsung (still lacking LTE, though)?
Samsung? Which of their SoC's have an integrated baseband?
An SoC with baseband modem integrated on die is ideal for cost-sensitive products that require connectivity. Since NVIDIA is focusing on high end ultra mobile products, it doesn't make sense for them to integrate a baseband modem. NVIDIA will have quicker time to market and higher application processor perf. for a given SoC die size by foregoing baseband modem integration
Are you saying Tegra 4i was targeted at the high end? And your second point is very debatable as well..given the success of MSM8974.
Obviously Qualcomm has a very strong baseband modem product roadmap. Note that most people change their phone every 1-2 years and will have newer baseband tech with each upgrade cycle, so having a software-defined modem is not a huge benefit there. But in the automotive space, most people don't change their car for at least 5 years, so having a software-defined modem may make some sense there
You have a point but how often do cars receive software updates? Maybe it will change in future but I right now I dont see much benefit to it.
Lacking integration on high volume phone parts seems like a poor outcome of the Icera acquisition. Yeah maybe they do still need a baseband processor for their automotive parts but why does it need to be their own? It's hard to believe the volumes there justify this.
Maybe this market has special needs for modems that other suppliers aren't meeting..
I completely agree with you. At the time it seemed that the major selling point of the Icera acquisition was to integrate the baseband on die to compete with the likes of Qualcomm. If they are now only going to make external modem's, I don't see the business case.
That was the initial cost. Add in the cost of R&D to integrate the modem into the Tegra 4i and then add in the lost revenue for delaying the Tegra 4 to pull forward the Tegra 4i.
Not counting the money spent on the external modem. But regarding your second point, wasn't it the other way around? Didn't they delay the release of 4i to pull forward Tegra 4?
I really can't understand why it took a full year to qualify the Nvidia modem in the Tegra 4i when others like QualComm and MediaTek seem to release new versions within months.
Well I dont think Qualcomm or Mediatek do it in just a few months, but they don't take as long as Nvidia has taken at least. Though given Qualcomm's vast experience, I wouldn't expect any less from them.
