The onslaught of 5G is coming sooner than you think. AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint are beginning to prep there respective networks — but some are farther along than others.
Similar to the early days of 4G, it's carriers and mobile manufacturers announcing partnerships for forthcoming devices. The one feature being confirmed is 5G support (to varying degrees), with everything else being mostly unknown.
And yes, many of these feature the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 platform and its 5G modem.
Here are the devices we know of so far.
Credit: AT&TEarlier this Fall, AT&T announced its "first 5G connection" through a NETGEAR mobile hotspot. Notably it will use a millimeter wave network and should deliver some fast speeds.
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In conjunction with Inseego and Qualcomm, Verizon also has a 5G hotspot launching in 2019. It was shown off this week at Qualcomm's Snapdragon Summit. Notably, it will meet the 5G NR or New Radio standards, meaning it should work on more bands than devices that don't.
Credit: Kote Puerto/UnsplashSprint doesn't want to be left out of the game, and basically announced a partnership with a manufacturer. The carrier is partnering with HTC and Qualcomm for a so called "mobile smart hub," which is essentially a fancy term for a 5G hotspot. It will be packing a Snapdragon X50 modem for 5G connectivity in addition to gigabit LTE when it lands in 2019.
Credit: MIKE MOZART, FLICKRAs with hotspots, Sprint is working with LG on a 5G smartphone. It should arrive in the first half of 2019 and fully work on the carrier's forthcoming 5G network. Unfortunately, not much else is known currently about the device.
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Earlier this week at Qualcomm's Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii, the two brands announced a forthcoming device. It will land in the first half of 2019 and should be one of the first 5G devices running a Snapdragon X50 modem. While the physical device was missing in action at the summit, Samsung did show off a prototype device with quite the notch.
Credit: AT&TDays after Verizon pulled back the curtain on its 5G Samsung phone, AT&T said it's working with the Korean phone manufacturer on a phone for the second half of 2019. It will work with 5G mmWave and sub-6 GHz standards, which is better on paper than the Verizon device.
Although it should be noted more waves and bands supported means the device will have an easier time overseas.
Credit: raymond wong/mashableAlongside larger manufacturers and U.S. carriers, OnePlus was at the summit with some news for the UK. OnePlus will be the first to release a 5G phone on UK operator EE. The device will be powered by a Snapdragon 855 mobile platform and handle many 5G bands. You can also expect some other devices from the brand, hopefully one or two that come to America.
Credit: lili sams/mashableThe Cupertino behemoth was late to 4G LTE and it seems Apple will be late to 5G as well. The company has said nothing about its product roadmap, but there has been some speculation that a 5G iPhone won't arrive till 2020, which looks highly likely. Not surprising at all was Apple's logo missing from the Qualcomm's slide of partners.
When and if a 5G iPhone arrives, it will likely pack an Intel modem.
Check back for more 5G devices on the horizon as they're announced.
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