It's almost 2024, why is it still so difficult to do a good job of mobile phone signal?
智东西（公众号：zhidxcom） Author | Yun Peng Edit | Desert ShadowRecently, the popularity of the AI track, especially the application of AI large models in the field of smart phones, has made everyone pay more attention to the intelligence of mobile phones, but in fact, on the road to intelligence, the poor basic communication ability of mobile phones is still one of the biggest constraints.
Looking back on our daily experience, in high-frequency scenarios such as subways, garages, elevators, and high-speed rails, various "embarrassing moments" are still very common, and problems such as signal disconnection, picture jamming, and poor application data transmission all seriously affect the user experience in the process of obtaining various intelligent services through mobile phones.
It can be said that smartphones still do not do a perfect job in the "main job" of communication.
At the same time, even if you look at the entire wave of intelligence, the communication ability of smartphones is becoming more and more important. With the support of large AI models, mobile phones have begun to have more generative AI functions, the complexity of task processing has increased sharply, and the demand for data exchange has also increased, and the importance of ensuring excellent communication capabilities with high speed and low latency has become more and more prominent.
Therefore, communication technology has always been one of the most critical technologies for smart phones, whether it is from the perspective of the core communication experience of mobile phones or from the requirements of mobile phone communication in the future wave of intelligence.
Since this is a must-answer question,Every manufacturer needs to do its best to give an excellent solution,Recently, Huawei showed a new generation of Lingxi communication technology on the Mate X5 folding screen flagship,It can be said that it gives a good example,Many media and institutions, including Zhidong, have experienced Mate X5After experiencing Lingxi communication"Signal worry-free"Have a more intuitive understanding。
Based on a series of key technological innovations in software, hardware, and algorithms, Huawei has once again raised the ceiling of smartphone communication capabilities, setting a benchmark for smartphone communication experience in the AI era.
As Huawei announced more and more technical details related to Lingxi Communication, more stories behind Lingxi Communication gradually came to the forefront. How does Lingxi Communication achieve "dimensionality reduction" in many scenarios? From communication to imaging and OS, how can Huawei, which has returned to the C position of the stage, use hard-core technology to stir up the entire smartphone market?
1. "Having a signal" is the first step of mobile phone intelligence
With the development of smart phones to this day, it is difficult to open a significant gap between different products in terms of hardware configuration and functions, and the system fluency has been basically optimized to a more mature stage, but at the core experience level, communication capabilities are still a link that can form significant differences, and it is also a "short board" that still exists in many flagship products.
When it comes to what consumers are "not satisfied with" in the use of flagship mobile phones today, "the signal is not good enough" accounts for the vast majority of user feedback.
According to the survey results, almost all users chose communication capability as one of the top 3 function points of smartphones that they are most concerned about.
It is worth mentioning that at the beginning of the release of the Huawei Mate 60 series and Mate X5 series, Zhidong also visited many Huawei stores offline and communicated with many consumers. Many consumers have mentioned in the process of buying a mobile phone that they are very concerned about because of the good mobile phone signal, especially Huawei's latest flagship phone has also made the world's first satellite communication function, which has even become a "rigid need" for some consumers.
In addition, from the perspective of several major scenarios of smartphone applications, all aspects of our lives are inseparable from communication, and maintaining a good signal is the most basic guarantee for users to have a good experience in the process of using the machine.
Smart home, sports and health, travel, audio-visual entertainment, and mobile office can be said to be the most important scenarios involved in our daily life. Almost every scenario is deeply related to communication technology.
For example, in the mobile office scenario, mobile phone file transfer puts forward requirements for transmission speed, and with the deepening of enterprise digital transformation, more and more online office requirements emerge, and online data and files are also getting larger and larger.
At the same time, in recent years, various manufacturers have begun to follow the trend of "multi-device collaboration" initiated by Huawei, increasing the cross-device collaboration functions of various mobile phones, tablets, and PCs.
It is worth mentioning that when users use applications and services in these scenarios, they are often "just needed", not to mention the "life-saving" function of satellite communication technology.
For example, in the audio-visual entertainment scene, in the current streaming media era, mobile video is popular, and the emergence of high-quality audio and video content also puts forward higher requirements for communication bandwidth.
Overall, communication capabilities are the cornerstone of a smartphone's ability to deliver a superior intelligent experience.
However, not every manufacturer can provide a solution to such a problem that has plagued the smartphone industry for decades to satisfy consumers.
For example, the signal problem of Apple's iPhone products has been criticized by consumers for many years, and Apple's new iPhone products have often become the object of comparison between domestic mobile phone manufacturers in the communication capability introduction section of the press conference.
At the beginning of the release of Huawei Mate 60 series and Mate X5 series some time ago, many users compared the communication capabilities of Huawei Mate X5 folding screen flagship with iPhone 15 Pro Max, and in some actual tests, the transmission rate of Mate X5 outdoor cellular network is several times faster than that of iPhone 15 Pro Max.
▲The network speed of the Huawei Mate X5 measured by the media in a vehicle driving outdoors
In scenarios with weak signals, such as subways, garages, and elevators, the Huawei Mate X5 can continue to maintain a basic smooth application experience even if the iPhone is disconnected.
It is understood that behind such differences, the new generation of Lingxi communication technology adopted by Huawei Mate X5 plays a key role.
Huawei's technological innovations at the hardware, software, and algorithm levels, such as the Lingxi antenna, Lingxi AI algorithm, and Lingxi network, have further tapped the potential of mobile phone communication signals, and further improved the communication capabilities of mobile phones through device performance and layout optimization.
2. Four key technologies to decrypt Huawei Lingxi Communications
Actual experience and tests have proved that Huawei's Lingxi communication technology can indeed bring real communication experience improvement, and mobile phones can still maintain strong signal communication capabilities in common daily signal blind spots and weak signal scenarios.
How exactly did Huawei achieve this, and what are the key technical details and R&D process behind it?
High-speed rail is a means of transportation that many consumers often take in the process of business trips or travels, and on the way to high-speed rail, it is very common to spend time by watching short videos online, watching dramas or watching movies, and in the actual use process, Huawei Mate X5 can basically keep the whole live broadcast uninterrupted, and the jamming situation is also very rare.
▲ Brush short videos on high-speed rail
For example, when in the garage, if there is a video conference phone connection suddenly, Huawei Mate X5 can basically ensure that the video picture is not stuck, the stability of the network signal will be better than other flagship models, and its picture will rarely be blurred due to the low transmission bitrate.
In the subway and other means of transportation that commuters take every day, many people will also encounter situations where they need to deal with work temporarily, at this time, the Mate X5 can maintain a stable network connection, and the transfer of files, photos, and documents on the subway can basically go on normally.
In addition,Watching live video on the subway is a greater challenge to communication capabilities,Observe users of other brands around you,Video often appears"Circle loading"Situation,This has a great impact on the experience of watching live broadcast,In some subway sections with poor signal,Some mobile phones will also have signal disconnection,Even WeChat messages can not be replied。 But at this time, Huawei Mate X5 can still maintain a weak network connection, and WeChat emails can be replied to in time.
▲Download files for weak signal scenarios such as subways and high-speed rails
Finally, in the scene of concert ticket grabbing, due to the size advantage of the inner screen, Huawei Mate X5 can open two or three platforms at the same time to grab pre-sale concert tickets, and at the same time, Lingxi communication technology can ensure that the network will not produce obvious fluctuations and delays, which can indeed improve the success rate of ticket grabbing to a certain extent.
It is worth mentioning that behind these excellent communication experiences, Huawei Lingxi Communication hides a lot of hard-core "black technologies" from hardware, software to algorithms.
On the Huawei Mate X5, the antenna design is more difficult due to the shape of its folding screen, and the Huawei Lingxi antenna adopts a wraparound antenna layout.
In order to improve the signal strength of foldable screen phones in different usage forms and high and low frequency bands, Huawei has added intelligent dual-mode tuning technology and dual-link signal enhancement technology.
On top of this, Huawei's Lingxi AI algorithm can optimize the selection of cellular networks according to the different scenarios we use, allowing mobile phones to select high-quality networks more intelligently in areas with weak signals and congestion, so as to ensure the smooth operation of applications on mobile phones.
It is understood that in order to further reduce the latency, Huawei uses the Lingxi network on the Mate X5, device-pipe-cloud collaboration, dual WiFi intelligent acceleration technology, the experience delay in low latency scenarios can be reduced by nearly eighty, and it is said that the download speed of mobile phones in high-traffic download scenarios can be increased by 92%.
At the same time, based on Huawei's unique signal map, the mobile phone can pre-identify signals and preload short videos.
From the underlying hardware design, software algorithms, device-cloud collaboration to big data analysis, Huawei has truly achieved the ultimate in "making mobile phones have a good signal".
Huawei has always had a relatively leading technical strength in the field of communications, which is inseparable from Huawei's decades of hard work in the communication track, Huawei attaches great importance to its signal performance in each smartphone product, and Lingxi Communication can also be said to be the concentrated embodiment of Huawei's communication technology in smartphones.
3. From communications and imaging to AI and OS, Huawei has been at the forefront of technological innovation
As mentioned above, the advantages of Huawei's mobile phones in terms of signal are obvious to all, and a series of technological innovations of Lingxi Communication have become the basis for realizing these experiences.
However, when we dig deeper, we will find that Huawei's leading position in communication technology comes from Huawei's technocracy and Huawei's continuous investment in technological innovation.
It can be said that behind every technological breakthrough is Huawei's solid investment in technology research and development. For example, for the Lingxi communication technology mentioned above, Huawei has set up a Lingxi communication laboratory.
For example, for typical pain point scenarios such as high-speed rail, Huawei has established an experimental environment that simulates the use scenarios of high-speed rail carriages, and continuously optimizes and iterates related algorithms based on the test results.
With the help of this simulation of real-world scenarios, whether it is a densely built commercial area, a densely populated subway or a concert, Huawei can more efficiently optimize the algorithm to improve the communication performance of the mobile phone in these real-world scenarios.
Of course, in addition to simulation, on-site testing is also required, and Huawei's communications engineers need to conduct actual tests in various harsh communication scenarios, conduct a lot of field research work, compare the real-world test results with the results of simulated tests in the laboratory, and further iterate and optimize the algorithm.
What we see is the excellent performance of the Lingxi AI algorithm, but behind it is the hard work and investment of countless engineers in the Lingxi Lab.
In fact, not only in the field of communications, but also in the field of mobile imaging, mobile operating systems, AI large models, and the joint R&D of upstream technologies in the industrial chain, Huawei's long-term investment in underlying technologies is difficult for other domestic manufacturers in the same track to catch up with in a short period of time.
For example, in the field of mobile imaging, Huawei has launched its own XMAGE image brand, and in terms of imaging, Huawei has broken through the miniaturization and thinning of variable aperture technology together with the supply chain, and implemented this "SLR-level" technology in smart phones, adding new ways to play professional photography creation.
Huawei's deep cultivation in the field of periscope telephoto lenses and technological innovation in the optical structure of devices have also become one of the important driving forces for the technological iteration of the domestic optical lens industry.
In 2023, when AI large models are popular, Huawei has become the first smartphone manufacturer to implement AI large model capabilities in mobile phones, and behind this, Huawei's long-term cultivation in the AI field has played a key role. While other competitors are scrambling, Huawei's Pangu model has been iterated to version 3.0 and has begun to be applied in many vertical industries.
This year, HarmonyOS 4 has further raised the "ceiling" of mobile operating system capabilities in terms of cross-device system and service flow, and similar features have been followed by other vendors in the following period.
At the level of hardware design,Huawei's previous folding screen flagships have almost refreshed the industry limit in terms of fuselage structure design and internal device stacking,This timeHuaweiMate X5 has almost achieved the experience of folding screen on the basis of the thin and light of the straight board machine。
It can be seen that Huawei is rooted in demand, based on the technology base to achieve innovation and progress, and these technical advantages have also become the core of Huawei's product competitiveness.
Of course, such technological innovation is inseparable from deep and long-term firm investment in R&D.
In 2021, Huawei's R&D investment was 142.7 billion yuan, and in 2022, this figure will be 161.5 billion yuan, and in the past decade, Huawei's cumulative R&D expenditure has reached 977.3 billion yuan, which is about to exceed one trillion yuan.
▲Huawei's 2022 annual report
Huawei's R&D investment accounted for 25.1% of its annual revenue, far exceeding that of overseas technology giants such as Apple, Samsung, Google, and Microsoft.
According to Huawei's annual report, by the end of 2022, Huawei had about 114,000 R&D personnel, accounting for 55.4% of the total number of employees.
With such R&D investment, Huawei's technological innovation achievements are also considerable. By the end of 2022, Huawei held more than 120,000 valid patents worldwide, ranking first in the world in terms of the number of 5G patent applications.
It is worth mentioning that Huawei officially released the world's first full range of 5.5G (5G-Advanced) product solutions during the Global Mobile Broadband Forum in October this year. It is said that this solution can improve the network capacity by about 10 times.
It can be seen that Huawei's technological leadership in the global communications field continues.
Huawei's persistence in R&D investment and exploration of technological innovation have become the source of Huawei's technological leadership.
Conclusion: Technology is king, and Huawei is still the Huawei we are familiar with
"Lingxi communication, worry-free signal", this sounds like a slogan, but in fact, it is extremely challenging to truly achieve "worry-free" mobile phone communication capabilities. Based on a series of technological innovations of Lingxi Communication, Huawei has taken this sentence seriously and achieved the "extreme" of communication within its capabilities. The Huawei Mate X5 has surpassed most flagship products in terms of actual communication experience.
Huawei's unwavering investment in technology research and development is also a guarantee for Huawei's ability to survive difficult times and usher in a new dawn.
Looking to the future, the surge of AI models has injected new vitality into the smartphone track, and also brought new opportunities and challenges.
The speed of technology iteration is getting faster and faster, and new products, new features, and new experiences are constantly emerging, but what remains unchanged is that "technology is king", and the Huawei we are familiar with is still at the forefront of technological innovation.