We are in the teething stages of the rollout of 5G networks across the world. 5G capable devices are very few and very expensive. 5G nodes are incredibly rare and people with 5G capable devices need to be very near them to enjoy 5G’s incredible speeds.
5G devices are very expensive. The Samsung Galaxy Note 10 5G and the Galaxy S10 5G for starters are $1300 each for their base versions. There is no “value” 5G device so far and HMD has seen an opportunity.
According to Digital Trends, the Finnish company said that they are making a “value” 5G smartphone with a 2020 launch date.
This is kind of surprising since 5G is yet to mature and you’d expect “value” 5G smartphones in a couple of years when the technology matures.
Juho Sarvikas, Chief Product Officer for HMD told the publication that their value 5G smartphone would cost roughly of what exists today. This means if we consider the $1300 price tag for the current flagship 5G smartphones, this means the upcoming 5G Nokia phone would be roughly $650.
$650 is anything but cheap for most markets around the world, but comparing with what other companies are charging for their 5G smartphones, this is pretty incredible.
HMD sees an opportunity to capture that cheaper market for those people who want to enjoy the benefits of being early users of 5G without having to shell out $1300 for a 5G phone.
Apparently HMD is working closely with silicon vendors as well as the Nokia arm that deals with deploying and operating 5G services for enterprise. Silicon vendors in question could be the likes of Qualcomm who supply the current cream of the crop 5G phones with the 5G modems. Mediatek also announced a system on a chip with 5G so maybe HMD might go shopping around in that area for their value 5G smartphone.
This is exciting since 5G is maturing faster than we think. HMD sees an opportunity to supply and dominate this gaping hole in the 5G market, but will get competition of the likes of Huawei who developed the 5G SoC with Mediatek.
