5G phones are coming this year
While Xiaomi and other companies have been teasing the prospect of releasing 5G-capable handsets this year, there’s actually a bunch of 5G smartphones coming this 2019.
Qualcomm has confirmed in CES that they will be powering around 30 5G-powered devices in 2019. While not all of the 30 devices will be phones (a number of them will probably be mobile hotspots or the like) a majority of them will be smartphones built not only by well-known companies like Xiaomi, LG, HTC and OnePlus but other “global OEMs” according to the chipmaker.
These phones and devices will be powered by the company’s new flagship Snapdragon 855 processor and X50 modem, which is expected to make its debut in devices announced by Qualcomm’s traditional partners.
The question is, will there be 5G networks in place to take advantage of it? We’ll have to see. Smart is already slowly testing and deploying 5G networks in limited areas in the country, though full-blown roll-out is still months, if not years, away.
5G promises to bring faster speeds and more importantly, lower latency that allows for more bandwith intensive, real-time applications to work. You can read all about why 5G isn’t all about download speeds here.
