With 5G infrastructure rollouts a reality now, at least to some degree it’s time for OEMs to start considering when to build the new technology into their devices for longer-term device viability. Qualcomm has announced that in early 2021 they will be releasing 5G ready SOC into the Snapdragon 400 series of mid-tier processors.
These new chips will provide OEMs with 5G options at the 400, 600, 700 and 800 series of processors. This will provide a pathway for many more devices to launch with 5G in 2021 and beyond. While devices being launched next year may not have 5G, it’s likely that Qualcomm will continue to expand their 5G offerings.
As these chips age 5G will naturally find its way into more devices, just like it did with LTE. While the definitive use case for 5G has not emerged, and some telcos are trying to figure out how to price gouge for that service, in time it will be ubiquitous. When that happens it would be nice if more people could take advantage of it.
