Move over 4G there’s a New Sheriff in Town: Mobile 5G

2018 is the year when the world opens its eyes to Mobile 5G connectivity. Qualcomm is all set to showcase their Snapdragon X50 5G NR modem. Qualcomm has tied up with a number of OEMs to bring mobile 5G network to the world, with the first smartphone having the Snapdragon X50 5G NR mobile 5G network coming out in the first half of 2019. Chinese brand Vivo has also said that consumers can expect the first mobile 5G smartphone somewhere next year.

Some of the major mobile phone OEMs partnering with Qualcomm in their Snapdragon X50 5G modem trials are Xiaomi, Global, Nokia, Oppo, HTC, ZTE, LG and HMD. Notably absent from this list, are the companies- Samsung, Apple and Huawei, accounting for over 50% of the world’s smartphone market. Most of these names signing up for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X50 5G modem have major presence in Asia rather than the US. There’s a more than possible chance that Asia maybe the first to see the likes of mobile 5G.

OEMs partnering with Qualcomm for mobile 5G: 

Fujitsu, Novatel wireless, Netgear, Sharp, WNC, Telit, Wingtech and NetComm Wireless are some of the other OEMs to sign up for mobile 5G with Qualcomm.

Devices manufactured by these OEMs will function at bandwidths of 6GHz and millimeter wavelength spectrum bands and will supposedly come out in 2019.

Other devices featuring Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X50 5G Modem with mobile 5G:

Other than OEMs featuring Snapdragon X50 5G modem, other devices to have mobile 5G are Always Connected PCs, VR Headsets and AR Headsets and Extended Reality Headsets. The speeds of this mobile 5G network are never seen before with speeds reaching 5Gbps and offering faster downloads, faster browsing speeds, better streaming from apps and instant cloud access on smart phones. The snapdragon X50 5G modem is also supposed to offer low latency in Always Connected PCs and ultra-low latency in HMDs.

The Qualcomm snapdragon X50 5G modem is going to be compatible with both 4G and mobile 5G networks.

Network Operators pairing up with Qualcomm on the mobile 5G Journey: 

Many network operators are also partnering up with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X50 5G network for mobile 5G. Some of the more prominent names are AT&T, Sprint China Telecom, British Telecom, China Unicom, China Mobile, NTT DOCOMO, Verizon, Orange, Telstra and Singtel besides others.
The aim is to combine Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X50 5G modem with Smartphone and other device’s designs that are compatible with mobile 5G and which are also compliant with mobile 5G standards. After that smartphones and other devices supporting mobile 5G will go in for commercialization.

Showcasing the Qualcomm Snapdragon X50 5G modem: 

Qualcomm is all set to showcase mobile 5G with their Snapdragon X50 5G modem in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress. Qualcomm has a booth all set up with their mobile 5G modem delivering Speeds of several gigabytes per second.

A HTC headset with mobile 5G connectivity was recently launched at an industry event in Taiwan.