 as integration levels increased. This holds true for the transition to 90 nm, the transition to 65 nm and for sub-50-nm processes but also this is an RFIC perspective of the world and we have assiduously noted that a lot of RF components are still not included on the RFIC. In general, it can be said that it is good practice to study the practical present handset cost multipliers and performance issues implicit in nonstandard band allocations and bear in mind, when developing economic models, that present (NRE) entry costs may increase rather than decrease over time. Other considerations may be significant, for example the mechanical form factor of the device. The present trend towards superslim phones (a height of less than 7 mm) is dependent on the availability of low form factor passive devices (capacitors, inductors, resistors and other resonant components including the antenna) that are specific to the supported frequency bands. Small volumes (in terms of space) make it proportionately harder to realise antennas that resonate efficiently across widely spaced frequency bands. 'Small' market volumes imply risk that these 'difficult to design' components will not be readily available to the handset vendors. In the intervening period between 2007 and 2012 there has been a general market assumption that high peak data rates are needed and that multiple antennas are needed in mobile devices to achieve this. This has compounded the space/volume problem for antenna designers. As antenna volume reduces, operational bandwidth reduces. This decreases total isotropic sensitivity on the receive path and total radiated power on the transmit path and makes the device more susceptible to hand- and head-proximity detuning effects. But performance is not just a function of physical volume but also of market volume. High market volumes mean that the performance spread of RF components can be more carefully controlled. This can be best described as 'performance scaling', the specific market volumes needed to achieve consistent 