Qualcomm Says Every Android Manufacturer Will Have 5G Flagship Phone by End of 2019

[MacRumors]

Apple is reportedly waiting until at least 2020 to roll out next-generation 5G cellular data technology in its iPhone lineup, but according to Qualcomm president Cristiano Amon, "every" Android handset manufacturer will have a flagship phone with 5G support across U.S. carriers by the end of next year, reports CNET.

By the holidays next year, every flagship handset -- at least when it comes to those running Google's Android software and using Qualcomm's Snapdragon processor -- will tap into 5G, said Qualcomm President Cristiano Amon.

"When we get to exactly this time of year one year from now ... we will see every [handset maker] on the Android ecosystem, their flagship across all US carriers will be a 5G device," he told CNET in an interview Tuesday at Qualcomm's Snapdragon Technology Summit in Hawaii. "Every Android vendor is working on 5G right now."

Apple is of course embroiled in a patent dispute with Qualcomm that has seen the iPhone maker shift its modem orders over to Intel. Apple is said to be targeting Intel's upcoming 8160/8161 5G modem for the iPhone, but that part won't enter mass production the second half of 2019, which means it won't start appearing in devices until the first half of 2020.

Regardless of its dispute with Qualcomm, Apple has historically not been on the cutting edge of adopting the latest cellular standards, preferring to wait until they've matured and chips have been better optimized before including the technologies in its devices, so it shouldn't necessarily come as a surprise that Apple will likely lag behind other manufacturers in pushing out 5G support.

Article Link: Qualcomm Says Every Android Manufacturer Will Have 5G Flagship Phone by End of 2019

 

[farewelwilliams]

Qualcomm says they need money

 

[JPack]

Intel is a half step behind Qualcomm, this time it shows.

 

[magicschoolbus]

All in favor of letting android users be guinea pigs, “smash that like button”.

 

[iapplelove]

iPhone 2020.. I can wait.

 

[martyjmclean]

Better for Apple to wait til 2020. We don't want a repeat of the 4G rollout.

 

[JPack]

Better for Apple to wait til 2020. We don't want a repeat of the 4G rollout.

The problem is, Intel's 5G modem in 2020 will likely perform similar to Qualcomm's 2019 modem.

 

[bensisko]

While I'm looking forward to 5G, it's not the "must have" upgrade that 3G to 4G LTE was. I'm not exactly hurting for faster speed on my mobile.

 

[Pakaku]

Okay then, good for you Android, good for you Qualcomm, you do what you feel's best for you *pats on back* *two thumbs up*

 

[Baymowe335]

And no iOS customer will care.

 

[69Mustang]

All in favor of letting android users be guinea pigs, “smash that like button”.

You're on a tech site where a lot of people eagerly await beta software. They're used to being bleeding edge guinea pigs. 5G networks aren't fleshed out so I doubt even the Android users with handsets capable of using 5G tech will actually be able to be proper guinea pigs.

 

[quietstormSD]

I definitely think that Qualcomm has the superior modem chips over Intel. But I'm not sure if I would be all giddy about 5G yet. LTE took a while to come out, and it's not even blanketed everywhere. It's the lame "4G", aka slightly upgraded 3G, that is blanketed everywhere, "4G" means HSPA+ or WiMAX(does that still exist?) according to US carriers at least.

I really don't see true 5G taking off for a couple years anyway, so not sure if the whole Qualcomm has 5G and Intel doesn't and Apple is only Intel, therefore it's behind the times argument really means anything in the real world. If Apple didn't get 5G in their smartphones until 2021, then I would be more concerned.

 

[mejsric]

5g is useless with data caps

 

[BuffyzDead]

Having 5G on smartphone is fancy-schmancy, but what good is it really?

… If 5G network’s won’t be everywhere and prevalent, till 2020, or even later??.

 

[mr.steevo]

Is Qualcomm promising 5G “SERVICE” in every country by 2019?

 

[Tiger8]

Having 5G on smartphone is fancy-schmancy, but what good is it really?

We had a ton of responses like that about 4G back in 2010 and 2011: "3G is good enough for a phone, no need for anything faster"

 

[JPack]

You're on a tech site where a lot of people eagerly await beta software. They're used to being bleeding edge guinea pigs. 5G networks aren't fleshed out so I doubt even the Android users with handsets capable of using 5G tech will actually be able to be proper guinea pigs.

Depends on where you live. According to Deloitte, China already has 350,000 5G cell sites.

 

[mr.steevo]

While I'm looking forward to 5G, it's not the "must have" upgrade that 3G to 4G LTE was. I'm not exactly hurting for faster speed on my mobile.

I’d argue the biggest step was the original iPhone to iPhone 3G
(which also started this whole damn numbering system)

 

[willentrekin]

The 5G logo bands always look to me like the emoji droplets that people use to mean . . . well. You know.

 

[Burnsey]

Intel is a half step behind Qualcomm, this time it shows.

Intel seems like a half step behind everybody these days.

 

[mi7chy]

All in favor of letting android users be guinea pigs, “smash that like button”.

Can't be worse than being guinea pigs for Intel 4G.

 

[Tiger8]

You're on a tech site where a lot of people eagerly await beta software. They're used to being bleeding edge guinea pigs. 5G networks aren't fleshed out so I doubt even the Android users with handsets capable of using 5G tech will actually be able to be proper guinea pigs.

Ummm, I know someone who's working on the rollout for two major US carriers,tons of projects nationwide... 5G standard is finalized and definitely 'fleshed out'

It's ok for Apple to be late as usual, but lets not pretend that they want that, if it's up to them, they'd be all over it

 

[johannnn]

5G is not available where I live, and probably won’t be in 2019 either.

Also, I don’t really see the point of it. 4G can be reeally fast! Like 100mbit/s fast. Would I really notice any difference if it was faster? Probably not. Maybe if I was streaming 4K, but how many users have data caps for that? Most users have 5-10GB/month..

 

[prasand]

Makes no difference to me. Fortunately, I live in a world, where I'm almost always on Wifi.

[doublepost=1543984803][/doublepost]
In hindsight, this is probably very good for cellular providers. Pretty much everyone I know, when they come over the first thing they ask for is the wifi password. I think that might be very common, for people to look for wifi when they can.

And I think it has to do with the speed (but could be because of their data cap). For those who do it due to speed, it's more probable that they will use their allotted data faster. Leading to more profit for the providers.

 

[iriejedi]

And every Carrier will reintroduce plans that charge per minute.... making 5G unaffordable to most....like Gig speed internet....