Qualcomm’s Senior Vice President of Engineering has revealed that some of the company’s more ambitious OEM partners are pushing to launch 5G smartphones as early as late 2018.
The broadly accepted expectation had been for 5G smartphones to arrive in 2019, but certain manufacturers and carriers are accelerating that timeline to get an early market advantage.
“Some operators, in fact, have gone on the record and stated that they would like to commercialise in late 2018 itself,” said Qualcomm SVP Durga Prasad Malladi. “We are doing everything that we can to help them.”
At this year’s Mobile World Congress, ZTE publicly indicated it intended to be among the first to ship 5G devices, though the company later faced setbacks after a U.S. market ban forced it to suspend operations.
Other manufacturers are keeping their plans confidential. It is likely that smaller, more nimble OEMs are particularly interested in using 5G to challenge established players such as Samsung and Apple.
Qualcomm is already developing 5G New Radio (NR) equipment compliant with the official specifications. In February the company introduced its first 5G modem, the Snapdragon X50, which is designed to enable early commercial 5G devices.
Previously in January, Qualcomm had suggested it would present the first 5G smartphone on-stage at next year’s CES. Pressure from eager OEM and carrier partners appears to have brought that schedule forward, increasing the likelihood of devices appearing before the end of 2018.
While industry timelines remain fluid, the combination of carrier interest, OEM ambition and advancing modem and infrastructure development means early commercial 5G smartphones are a realistic possibility. For consumers, that could mean faster mobile speeds, lower latency, and new use cases that rely on higher throughput and more reliable connectivity. For manufacturers and carriers, launching early could provide a valuable competitive edge, though widespread adoption will still depend on network deployments and the availability of compatible devices at scale.
Do you expect to see 5G smartphones in 2018? Let us know in the comments.
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