Samsung has been a relatively minor player in the current 5G market, but the company is positioning itself to take a leading role in the next generation of mobile networks by launching dedicated 6G research.
The South Korean tech giant aims to gain an early advantage over long-established telecom equipment makers such as Nokia and Ericsson by investing in 6G development now.
Samsung’s 6G research operations are based in Seoul at the Advanced Communications Research Center, where the company has expanded its telecommunications standards team to take on next-generation work.
“The current team on telecommunications technology standards has been expanded to start leading research on the 6G network,” a Samsung spokesperson told The Korea Herald.
Early technical projections for 6G suggest peak data rates could reach about 1 Tbps. While few consumer applications require such extreme speeds today, new uses and services could emerge over the coming years that demand far greater capacity and lower latency than 5G can provide.
Despite the excitement around 6G, widespread deployment is not imminent. Many regions have yet to reach mass adoption of 5G, and standards development, testing and commercialization for 6G will take several years. If previous generational cycles are any guide, development and readiness often span close to a decade.
South Korea was one of the earliest countries to activate commercial 5G services earlier this year, closely followed by deployments in the United States and other markets. That early leadership in 5G gives locally based companies like Samsung a foundation for moving into 6G research.
Other major vendors are also expected to be pursuing 6G research programs, but Samsung’s formal expansion of its standards and research team signals a clear intention to be a major contributor to next-generation mobile network technology.
As standards work, experimental trials and industry collaboration progress, 6G will likely focus on dramatic increases in throughput, more efficient spectrum use, ultra-low latency, enhanced edge computing integration, and support for an even broader range of connected devices and applications. The timeline for commercial 6G services remains uncertain, but early investment by companies such as Samsung will help shape the technologies and standards that eventually define the next generation of mobile communications.