This means that Android smartphones could allow users 1Gbps data speeds from 2017-18 however, the corollary remains your carrier network has ability to support it. Since such ability exists only in 64 percent of carriers in the world and most of them from South Korea, Japan, and Scandinavia, users from other countries shouldn’t get too excited about the news. There’s also the question of data caps, as there’s no point having superfast speeds if all it busts the data cap in a single day. Qualcomm refused to reveal when the Snapdragon 830 will be available for smartphones. The chipmaker usually releases a new flagship processor every year, it’s likely we can expect to see something in 2017. The company announced its very first 5G modem, the Snapdragon X50, which will support download speeds at up to 5 Gbps in the 5G arena. X50-powered devices “are expected to be available during the first half of 2018.” Qualcomm said that X50-powered devices “are expected to be available during the first half of 2018.” Do remember that 5G standard for smartphones is supposed to arrive at the same time. Qualcomm’s X50 modem is designed for early 5G deployments and we can see the 5Gbps speed gradually increase substantially. X50 modem will deliver whopping 5 Gbps download speed 800 MHz bandwidth in the mmWave spectrum. Though the mmWave frequency has limited penetration range, Qualcomm’s X50 modem will make use of MIMO antenna technology with intelligent beam forming and beam tracking to bounce signals off walls, in order to go around obstacles. It’ll be years before we go fully 5G so early deployments will likely have limited coverage, but don’t worry, as the X50 can seamlessly switch between 5G and Gigabit LTE, so long as it’s paired with a Snapdragon processor with an integrated Gigabit LTE modem — like the X16 announced earlier this year. Such a boost in connection speeds will let us look forward to new use cases in the mobile world — real-time augmented reality plus virtual reality, super. With 5G standard slated to arrive in first half of 2018, it will years before we have 5G standards world over. Looks like 2017-18 is going to be a great year for mobile telephony!
