With 5G hype high, smartphone users risk disappointment

“The telecoms industry is gearing up for 5G, the next generation wireless networks which could enable new technologies such self-driving cars and robot surgeons. But it may be raising expectations too early,” Agence France-Presse reports. “As industry leaders gather at the Mobile World Congress trade fair in Barcelona this week, some warn consumers risk disappointment because the benefits 5G’s much faster speeds and vast data capacity can provide are still a long way from becoming reality.”
“For example while 5G will bring near-instantaneous connectivity for smartphones and can virtually eliminate latency — the lag-time when data is sent or received — this ‘will only be a reality in 2023-2025,’ said Yannick Sadowy, the director for telecoms and media and consulting firm Accenture,” AFP reports. “Analysts don’t expect 5G compatible smartphones to be become widely available until the second half of 2019 and the first models will be expensive. And it will take even longer for the geographical reach of the 5G networks which are starting to be rolled out this year to be extensive enough to let you use your 5G phone without having to rely on current 4G wireless standards for most of the time.”
“Mobile communications industry body GSMA, which represents nearly 800 operators, forecasts 4G will still account for 45 percent of worldwide mobile subscriptions in 2025, while 5G would only be at 15 percent,” AFP reports. “Telecoms operators in Europe appear to have learned from the mistake of overpromising when 3G networks were first introduced in the continent in the early 2000s and have not played up 5G, although the same can not be said for operators in the United States.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Not Apple iPhone users who’ll have 5G when it’s becoming somewhat accessible, not when it’s merely a bullet point on a sales sheet.
Expect the iPhone cloners, Samsung et al., to tout “5G” regardless since – given the fact that all they do is peddle pretend iPhones to the ignorant – they believe, likely correctly, that their customers won’t know any better. — MacDailyNews, February 9, 2019
Apple is going to wait until 5G is worth supporting, not rush it to market in order to bilk the ignoranti with a check mark on a spec sheet that most will never use in 2019. If 5G actually mattered to enough people in 2019, Apple would have a 5G iPhone available in 2019. 5G is still very much in the trial phase and will have very limited availability in 2018. There is currently no standard for 5G deployments. The Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance says that 5G should be rolled out in the U.S. by 2020. — MacDailyNews, December 3, 2018
SEE ALSO:
Intel modem announcement likely means no 5G iPhone until 2020 – February 22, 2019
Verizon to launch 5G service in 30 cities this year – February 21, 2019
Why you should not waste your money on a ‘5G’ phone in 2019 – February 9, 2019
Sprint sues AT&T for peddling fake 5G label on a 4G service – February 8, 2019
Some AT&T iPhones displaying misleading ‘5G E’ icon in iOS 12.2 beta – February 4, 2019
AT&T says it will have nationwide 5G by early 2020 – January 9, 2019
Apple will wait until at least 2020 to release a 5G iPhone – December 3, 2018
More evidence that Apple’s building its own cellular modem – July 31, 2017
Apple’s next-gen iPhones said to lack 5G modem to match rivals’ data speed – June 9, 2017