18 Manufacturers to Bring 5G Smartphones to the Market in 2019
By 2019, 5G-enabled devices are expected to make inroads into the market. The recently announced Snapdragon X50 modem by Qualcomm has been adopted already by 18 smartphone manufacturers, such as Asus, Fujitsu, HMD Global, HTC, LG, Opp, Sharp, Sony, Vivo, Xiaomi, and ZTE.
As for the two market leaders, Samsung expanded its relationship with Qualcomm last week, while Apple is the one to stand apart.
According to the Qualcomm press release, a number of carriers, including AT&T, China Mobile, Orange, SK Telecom, Verizon, and Vodafone, are going to carry on trials for the 5G NR standard, aiming at their networks optimization.
The Shapdragon X50 5G live presentation will be held at MWC 2018, where Qualcomm is going to demonstrate the new modem capabilities, namely its outstanding performance of “several gigabits per second” download speed.
Which is even more exciting, Qualcomm claims that even Always Connected PCs, VR and AR headsets would possibly be enhanced by the 5G mobile broadband. Reportedly, leading operators will begin live trials of the new 5G NR standard in the second half of 2018, whereupon customers can expect ultra-fast smartphones and headsets to appear in the market.
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