5G NR Mobile Phone Hardware Components: Block Diagram and Key Elements

This article delves into the hardware components of a 5G NR mobile phone and provides a 5G smartphone block diagram illustrating the internal parts of a 5G mobile device.

Introduction to 5G NR

5G NR (New Radio) represents the cutting edge of cellular technology standards, defined and published by 3GPP. The specifications for 5G NR are detailed in 3GPP Release 15 and subsequent versions.

A 5G NR compliant smartphone is engineered to support both sub-6GHz and 6GHz frequency bands, including millimeter wave (mmWave) frequencies. These phones can achieve impressive download speeds, potentially reaching up to 2 Gbps. This is a significant leap, offering speeds approximately 1.7 to 5 times faster than the preceding 4G LTE technology.

Moreover, 5G phones maintain compatibility with older cellular technologies, supporting legacy modes from 2G and 3G all the way through 4G LTE. To achieve higher data throughput, 5G phones also leverage advanced features like 4x4 MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output), Carrier Aggregation (CA), and higher-order modulation schemes such as 64 QAM and 256 QAM.

GSM Mobile Phone Block Diagram

Figure-1: GSM Mobile Phone Block diagram

As illustrated in Figure-1, a typical mobile phone consists of a variety of hardware components, including:

• RF Transceiver chip
• GSM baseband processor (incorporating DSP and CPU)
• ADC/DAC chips
• Touchscreen display
• Battery
• RAM, ROM
• RF antenna
• Microphone (MIC)
• Speaker
• Camera
• Diplexer
• Micro-USB port
• SIM card slots
• And more

5G Smartphone Block Diagram

The following diagram (Figure-2) showcases a typical 5G smartphone block diagram highlighting the internal hardware components.

Figure-2: 5G Mobile Phone Block diagram

The architecture generally includes an antenna array, a 5G RF analog front end, baseband modem processing for the 5G NR signal, and ADC/DAC (Analog-to-Digital and Digital-to-Analog Converters).

Other important hardware components include:

• Processors (for multi-core applications, graphics processing, audio processing, deep learning processing, and image signal processing)
• Memory (DRAM)
• Display
• Sensors
• Interface converter ICs (SPI, I2C, I3C, UART, USB, HDMI, SSI, MIPI, etc.)
• Bluetooth IC
• WiFi IC

The 5G mobile processor often incorporates a CPU + DSP (Digital Signal Processor) architecture, along with ASIPs (Application-Specific Instruction-Set Processors) designed for 5G baseband processing tasks.

5G smartphones also utilize quadplexer filters, as shown in Figure 3.

Figure-3: Quadplexer filter

These quadplexers consist of four ports in addition to the single antenna port, functioning as a 4-to-1 port multiplexer/de-multiplexer device.

Massive MIMO, Beamforming and Other Hardware Components

To support the demand for higher data rates and wider coverage, 5G UE (User Equipment) designs frequently integrate massive MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output) and beamforming techniques.

Consequently, other hardware components or ICs, like multiple PAs (Power Amplifiers), LNAs (Low Noise Amplifiers), digital/analog phase shifters, RF filters, and SPDT (Single-Pole Double-Throw) switches are also incorporated into 5G smartphones.

As 5G NR mobile phones are typically designed to be backward compatible with previous cellular standards, they may also house 2G/3G/4G ICs, or a multi-mode modem that supports all of these cellular standards.

For geolocation and tracking purposes, a GPS/GNSS receiver IC is included.

For indoor wireless connectivity with routers, facilitating broadband internet access, 5G mobile phones are equipped with a WiFi IC compliant with the latest WLAN standards, such as 802.11 ax/ac/ad. For Bluetooth connectivity, these phones support the latest Bluetooth standards like Bluetooth 4.2/5/5.1.

PMICs (Power Management ICs) and low drop-out regulators (LDOs) are used within the beamforming section of the 5G mobile phone.

5G Mobile Phone IPs

Image Credit : Synopsys, Inc.

Figure-4 depicts DesignWare IP solutions which can be incorporated into the 5G mobile phone design process. Synopsys offers various solutions tailored for 5G phones, including processors, interface IPs, converter IPs, and security IPs.