5G is pegged to be the next big thing and various technology and telecom giants are working diligently to get it working. After the phased roll out of 4G in the previous years, the industry is keen on learning from its mistakes and ensuring that 5G reaches all corners; business and consumers at the earliest.
To support this cause, chipset makers like Qualcomm have announced 5G-supported modems that can be embedded into a smartphone. And major smartphone makers have come on board to make it accessible, and affordable from day one.
Here’s a look at some of the brands that will be offering their phones, across different price brackets with support for 5G connectivity.
As you can see here, there’s a mix of mid and premium category phone makers raising their hands to launch 5G smartphones globally from next year onwards. You’ve got OnePlus, along with Xiaomi, which has confirmed to come out with their first-ever 5G phones.
While for OnePlus fans this means that the upcoming OnePlus 6T will not be a 5G enabled phone, but it’s certain that the OnePlus 7 could be the landmark device. Other than OnePlus, you’ve got Vivo, Oppo, HTC and HMD Global, makers of Nokia Android phones, also ready to partner with Qualcomm.
The chipset maker’s Snapdragon X50 modem was demonstrated recently and experts believe that it’s early to expect full-fledged roll-out of the service by 2019. However, brands are taking the leap and coming out with devices, even after knowing this reality.
Interestingly, names like Samsung, Apple and Huawei aren’t part of the list and understandably so. These companies after all rely either on their own chipsets (Exynos, Kirin) or in the case of Apple, other chipset manufacturers.
There’s a lot to learn about the implementation of 5G, which most industry analysts believe will cater to segments like Internet of Things (IoT) and enterprise businesses to start of with.
In a country like India, where 4G proliferation is yet to cover the entire nation, it would be too early to talk about availability of 5G. The networks and spectrum themselves are yet to be set up and allotted and then auctioned to operators.
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