When Google announced the Google Pixel 3 and Google Pixel 3 XL we learned all of the carrier bands they would support. Nowhere in the launch documents of FCC specs did it mention support for LTE Band 48, an FCC addendum made public today shows that the Google Pixel 3 and Google Pixel 3 XL will support LTE Band 48 via a software update.
The model listed in the FCC addendum specifically stated this update will be pushed to the G013A variant, which is the international version of the Google Pixel 3. This is the version that is sold everywhere outside of Japan, so this includes the majority of the devices sold around the world. LTE Band 48 isn’t well known but it was also known as the CBRS Band.
Current Pixel 3 bands:
FDD-LTE: Bands⁷ 1*/2*/3*/4*/5/7*/8/12/13/17/18/19/20/25*/26/28/29/32/66*/71
TD-LTE: Bands 38*/39/40/41*/42/46
Overall support of up to CAT 16 (1Gbps DL / 75Mbps UL), 5x DL CA, 4×4 MIMO, LAA, 256-QAM DL, and 64-QAM UL
LTE Band 48 is 150 MHz of 3.5 GHz shared spectrum which has historically been used by the U.S. government for radar systems. Their announcement back in 2017 was big news as it was the first use of CBRS band 48 spectrum in an LTE Advanced carrier aggregation demonstration. Federated Wireless has said they are providing its Spectrum Access System “to dynamically prioritize traffic” within the FCC’s spectrum sharing framework. Carriers in the United States have gone on record saying they consider the 3.5 GHz spectrum as a core band for 5G deployment around the world.
It’s unclear when this software update will be pushed to the Google Pixel 3 and Google Pixel 3 XL, we will update you once additional information has been made available.
Source: FCC