Overview & Outlook on the Global 5G Market
Passage 1
回顾2018——5G产品的研究与实现
2018 in retrospect: 5G-enabled, foldable smartphones became a reality
From The News Minute · 357 words · 4 mins
With a rise in smartphone ownership, India is expected to end the year with over 500 million smartphone users.
As smartphones went through a couple of noticeable innovations in the hardware department in 2018 – especially Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven cameras and improved battery – the rise of 5G-ready and foldable devices stole the limelight.
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While players like Huawei, LG, Motorola and Apple secured patents on foldable devices, South Korean giant Samsung took a definitive lead, showcasing a real one in November when Justin Dennison, Senior Vice President of Mobile Marketing, took out a foldable smartphone from his jacket at a New York event.
Reports surfaced that Samsung plans to launch its first foldable smartphone in March next year and the shipment volume would be at least one million.
The smartphone would fold inward and sport a 7.4-inch screen when unfolded and have a 4.6-inch display like a regular smartphone when folded.
When it came to 5G, Samsung again pushed the envelope and announced 5G-enabled smartphones with US telecom carriers Verizon and AT&T that would hit the market in the first half of 2019.
Chinese player OnePlus joined the bandwagon in December, announcing it will release a commercial 5G smartphone with carrier network EE in the UK in 2019.
Rest of the year saw major innovations in the camera department, with almost every player in the market infusing AI into sensors to do the job of clicking that perfect moment for you.
An early innovator in smartphone camera technology, Huawei in April brought a Leica-designed, triple-camera system in P20 Pro smartphone which became its USP.
Samsung later announced two smartphones – Galaxy A7 with three-rear camera and Galaxy A9 with the four-rear camera system – with AI embedded into it.
The year also saw Chinese electronics major Xiaomi’s meteoric rise in India, increasing its market share quarter after quarter on the back of its popular Redmi series.
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In a bid to break the notion that it is just a smartphone brand, Xiaomi also amplified its products portfolio in categories like fitness and health, smart home, smart travel and more – using AI and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies.
Passage 2
展望2019——5G产品的未来
The Truth About 5G: What’s Coming (and What’s Not) in 2019
From tom’s guide · 339 words · 4 mins
After years of hype about gigabit speeds that will let you download full-length movies in mere seconds, 5G is finally becoming a reality. Already this year, we’ve gotten a taste of 5G as Verizon launched a home broadband service using the next-generation wireless technology and AT&T completed a live test on a 5G network using a consumer device. And 2019 will see the launch of actual 5G wireless networks along with phones that will run on them.
Here’s what you can expect from 5G’s rollout as 2018 gives way to 2019:
5G Facts
AT&T flipped the switch in December on its 5G mobile network, but there are no phones that can take advantage of the ultra-fast speeds. Instead, AT&T is offering select businesses and individuals a 5G mobile hotspot, Netgear’s Nighthawk, and free data for up to 90 days. Data will cost $70 a month for 15GB thereafter.
Both Verizon and AT&T have announced plans to build 5G phones with Samsung. Meanwhile, OnePlus says it will be one of the first phone makers to release a device using the 5G-ready Snapdragon 855 processor, and LG has plans to come out with a 5G phone of its own as a Sprint exclusive.
Apple will reportedly wait until 2020 to release a 5G smartphone, preferring to wait until all the kinks have been worked out and 5G is more widely available.
Where 5G Is Now
The 3rd Generation Partnership Project, the standards body that writes the rules for wireless connectivity, agreed in late 2017 on the first specification for 5G. The Non-Standalone Specification of 5G New Radio standard covers 600 and 700 MHz bands and the 50 GHz millimeter-wave end of the spectrum. That agreement paved the way for hardware makers to start developing handsets with 5G modems inside. But the non-standalone specification applies to 5G developed with LTE as an anchor.
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In June of this year, the standards body completed the rules for standalone 5G. Network operators are now fine-tuning their software using equipment that complies with the completed standard.