Qualcomm executives gathered AT&T, Verizon, and Samsung to promote 5G, the wireless backbone that will connect its next-generation Snapdragon 855 processor for smartphones.
Qualcomm opened its Snapdragon Technology Summit as a cheerleader, evangelizing the 5G wireless technology that’s rolling out worldwide from chipmakers, carriers, and smartphone makers. Qualcomm’s first “5G-ready” smartphone processor will be the Snapdragon 855.
Qualcomm executives provided a “state of 5G” update—part technical summary, part hype. AT&T and Verizon also joined Qualcomm on stage to provide updates on their own 5G rollouts, as well as to promote the new standard.
Though Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips are built into phones, part of the 5G transition is simply convincing users that 5G is real, that it’s here, and that it’s needed. “Here is the final message: It’s that the entire industry is moving at the same pace for 2019 launches. It is not just about upgrading a mature market, but moving to new business models,” said Cristiano Amon, executive vice president of Qualcomm Technologies and president of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies (QCT), the company’s chipset business,
AT&T and Verizon provided “live 5G networks” for use in the hotel hosting the Snapdragon Technology Summit, and Amon held up a first reference handset with a 5G chip inside it. It’s proof, Amon said, that 5G is right around the corner.
This is the Qualcomm 5G NR reference device. Though the screen isn’t powered on, it was streaming video to a large Samsung TV out of frame.
In July, the 3GPP body overseeing the standard published Release 15, described as necessary to enable the final sprint toward 5G commercialization. This is known as 5G NR. ( Release 16, described as “5G phase 2,” will enable such next-gen functionality as 5G LANs, satellite connectivity, and vehicle-to-vehicle connectivity. That spec is scheduled to be published at the end of 2019.)
One of the challenges of 5G, though, is simply defining it. So-called 5G technology is really two different pieces: narrow frequency bands in the sub-6GHz range, and the so-called “millimeter wave” spectrum. While the sub-6GHz portion of 5G offers speeds comparable to today’s 4G LTE, it’s the millimeter wave portions of the spectrum that can push throughput to the multi-gigabit level—but the signal strength falls off quickly over distances.
All of the major U. S. wireless carriers have announced 5G plans; in the case of Verizon, the company launched the first 5G broadband network in four cities in October.
