The next major race in the telecommunications world is deploying 5G. The next generation of telecommunications technology promises a host of benefits, the main one being extremely fast downloads relative to what we have today.
We are at the initial stages of getting 5G on our devices and we started with the 5G modems showing up on flagship phones. However for the tech to be viable, it has to filter down to the cheaper devices. Qualcomm is a major player in this regard and that is why this news is important.
Today at IFA, Qualcomm announced that they will integrate 5G connectivity to their 6 and 7 series chipsets. These will join their flagship 8 series processors that already have the 5G modem that is separate from the Snapdragon system on a chip.
Currently, flagship phones with the 8series Qualcomm chipsets don’t have the integrated 5G modem and rely on a a separate modem for 5G conenctivity. However, Qualcomm plans to announce more details of the integrated chipset later this year which will be a big step forward in making 5G phones more viable and cheaper.
Qualcomm said that they have 12 manufacturers that are planning to use the new 7 series processor that have the integrated 5G modem. This includes LG, OPPO and HMD Global. The company expects them to launch these devices with this chipset after the 4th quarter of the year. Regarding the 6 series chipset with the integrated 5G mdoem, Qualcom expects to launch it in the second half of 2020.
This confirms the report that we got earlier where HMD would launch a value 5G phone next year. 5G support on smartphones is evolving faster than the deployment of 5G nodes across the world and it seems 2020 is the year we will see 5G take off.
