Galaxy S10 5G, Mate X: Why not buy a 5G phone now

Qualcomm President Cristiano Amon said confidently, "The phones are ready, we are just waiting for the networks."

About an hour later, in a conference room 10 meters below this main room, Andre Fuetsch, Technology Manager at AT & T, told CNET: "The problem is the peripherals. Frankly, we are waiting for devices.

After years of work on 5G networks, considered as the fundamental foundation of technological trends such as augmented reality and telemedicine, ultra-fast wireless technology is finally deployed worldwide. Operators are starting up their networks and virtually every major Android handset manufacturer has announced plans to launch a 5G device this year.

But, as the contradictory comments of AT & T and Qualcomm officials show, the situation is still a little complicated. Nevertheless, although 5G sometimes remains a confusing mess, it is at least real online now.

There was a whirlwind of news. Samsung, the world's largest smartphone maker, unveiled the Galaxy S10 5G last week at its Unpacked event in San Francisco. Oppo Sunday at MWC unveiled its first 5G phone not yet named. Later in the day, Huawei unveiled its foldable Mate X powered by 5G, while Xiaomi detailed its Mi Mix 3 5G. MWC also marked the beginning of LG ThinQ V50 and ZTE's Axon 10 Pro, while Sony and OnePlus have introduced prototype devices that they will launch this year.

This does not mean that you should jump on the 5G train. Here are some reasons to wait a bit.

Tiny cover

AT & T claims to have the first 5G mobile network in the US, but with the opportunity to take advantage of next-generation service, things are becoming a little mysterious.

"These are small pockets in cities," said Fuetsch, noting that all customers using the Netgear Nighthawk 5G Mobile Access Point are small businesses. "We did not disclose them publicly."

AT & T and Verizon have invested in very high frequency radio waves, called millimeter wave spectrum, which offer tremendous speed and capacity. The disadvantage of this high capacity is the limited scope.

How limited? Think a block or two.

So even though AT & T and Verizon claim to have 5G coverage in a city, you may have trouble accessing the network even with a compatible device. A Verizon spokesperson admitted that early deployment would be small. T-Mobile's chief technology officer, Neville Ray, told CNET that his company had triggered a millimeter-wave spectrum supporting the upcoming Galaxy S10 5G, but would not likely market the network because the cover is so small.

Ray said the full launch of T-Mobile's 5G will take place in the second half of the year. It did not specify when, but some phones may not be running on the company's broader 5G network before the fourth quarter, or even early in 2020. In fact, the T network devices -Mobile will require Qualcomm's next-generation second modem, the X55. and which is not yet available for devices.

Smartphones arriving on time for the holidays later this year will still use the first generation modem, the X50, Qualcomm's Amon said in an interview Monday.

"There are some [handset makers] "We could see X55, but most smartphones from the second quarter of 2019 until the holiday season will be … X50."

A spokesperson for T-Mobile would only say that the launch of the larger network will take place in the second half.

Ray and Fuetsch are both targeting national coverage using a lower frequency (and longer range) spectrum by 2020.

The carrier with the biggest early 5G coverage could actually be Sprint. Yes, this Sprint. The company announced that it would cover more than 1,000 square kilometers with its 5G networks, spread across nine cities, such as Chicago and New York.

No other operator has talked about full coverage, which is not reassuring for anyone wishing to buy a 5G phone. We also do not know how much the 5G mobile plans will cost.

Cheap phones

Nobody really knows what 5G devices will cost. On all 5G handsets already announced, only two have price tags.

Huawei of MWC announced that its Mate X would cost 2300 euros (2,600 euros) when it will go on sale in the middle of the year. It's more expensive than expected, even though it's one of the first folding phones in the world. But the Mi Mix 3 5G Xiaomi will sell 599 euros ($ 679) when it will enter the market in May, a lower amount than many 4G phones today.

The devices may end up at the ends of the pricing, but there is really no way to know it at the moment. And another wildcard is what other features are added to increase the price. The cost of Mate X is mainly due to the foldable display.

In the end, the extra features added to the 5G phones will "determine the premium," said Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Creative Strategies. "Rest assured, there will be one."

Operators are spending billions of dollars to build 5G networks. Device manufacturers need to use more expensive components, such as 5G radios and larger batteries. These higher costs will probably be transferred to you through more expensive services and phones. And the move to 5G offers phone operators and phone manufacturers the ability to charge higher speeds at a time when they do not sell as many devices.

Drew Blackard, senior director of product marketing at Samsung, told CNET, after the company's Unpacked event, that the Galaxy S10 5G would be more of a "gradual increase" of the S10 Plus at $ 1,000, not a jump too. huge than the Galaxy Fold at $ 1,980. He noted that it would cost more than $ 100 more, but declined to give more details.

For its part, Motorola president Sergio Buniac believes that even if 5G devices are more expensive, they will not be too expensive. And OnePlus aims to keep the cost of its first 5G phone "under $ 1,000," said general manager Pete Lau during an interview Monday.

"At first, the price of 5G phones will be higher than that of 4G phones," said Yenchi Lee, senior director of product marketing for the wireless communications sector of MediaTek, in an interview on Monday. The company unveiled this week its first 5G modem, which will be available on smartphones in early 2020.

As soon as chips such as Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 5G integrated processor will be on the market next year, companies making cheaper phones will also be able to include 5G in their devices.

"We are trying to reach the 5G, not just towards this lighthouse level, but to other levels as quickly as possible," said Amon of Qualcomm. The integrated chip will be in the phones in the first half of 2020.

Compatibility issues

Thanks to everyone who adopted 4G LTE, we finally reached the point where phones could be routed to almost all carriers and still work. Then the 5G arrived.

Although everyone uses the same wireless technology, operators use different spectrum bands. And the chip and the antennas of first generation can not exploit all these frequencies simultaneously.

Instead, the 5G phone that you buy and that owns the Qualcomm X50 modem (which is basically any 5G phone except for those from Huawei) will be tied to a specific carrier. The 5G phone you purchase for Verizon will only work on Verizon's 5G network.

Once the X55 chip and new Qualcomm radios come out, a phone will work on all major spectrum bands, anywhere in the world. This means we can finally get unlocked 5G phones – if that's what handset manufacturers choose.

No killer apps yet

Throughout the MWC, countless booths have shown how 5G can change the experience of your phone, with, for example, video calls and refined console-level games that run smoothly. , thanks to much of the processing power managed remotely.

But consumers are not going to pay a premium just to eliminate a little buffer.

"The challenge for the industry is to find the most effective application for 5G," said Dan Hays, consultant for PWC.

These applications will come, even if it takes time. Remember, until 4G improves the quality of services, things like Uber or live streaming via Facebook did not exist, and watching videos streaming from Netflix and YouTube, for example, did not take off.

But in the beginning, there may not have been many ways to take advantage of this bandwidth.

Mobile 5G beyond phones

Although the world's largest handset manufacturers plan to launch 5G phones as soon as possible, other smaller players are more cautious. HTC for one "s asked if it was right to do it [5G] For now, at least HTC does not think phones are the answer. Instead, it focuses on providing 5G to customers via its 5G hub, which will be available in the US on the Sprint network.

"The beauty of the hub concept, no matter what device you own," said Nigel Newby-House, associate vice president of product planning and marketing at HTC, during an interview with MWC. "It's about virtual reality, from laptop or tablet, it's your gateway that could be shared across multiple devices. We're trying to save you the cost of 5G in your phone, tablet, etc. "

But buying the hub does not automatically mean that you will have 5G speeds on a 4G phone. You'll get faster speeds than if your phone has the 802.11ad standard, which activates WiGig Wi-Fi speeds. If your phone is older and only uses 802.11ac Wi-Fi, you'll end up with a bottleneck. Where the hub tries to transmit data faster than your phone can handle it.

MWC is not the last time we hear about 5G phones. But you may want to wait until next year before rushing to buy one.

The originally published March 2 at 5 pm PT.

Update March 3 at 6 am: To include the background.