Chief Executive of world-leading chipmaker Qualcomm, Steve Mollenkopf, states 5G phones are expected to hit mass market shelves in 2019, one year earlier than planned.
Mr Mollenkopf states of the accelerated pace:
“You will see it (5G) in real devices, on the shelf, in 2019. And if I were to answer that same question a year ago, I would have said 2020”.
According to Mollenkopf, the industry was forced to accelerate its timeline of 2020 and upgrade networks and devices, on the back of rising consumer and business demands.
He states that the first countries to adopt the 5G devices would include the US, South Korea and Japan.
Whilst Mollenkopf did not mention Australia’s rollout of 5G devices in his recent remarks, sources state Telstra is already heavily involved with Ericsson and Qualcomm to bring 5G to Australian consumers as soon as possible.
5G commercialisation is said to be key for future revenues of network equipment gear makers and smartphone makers such as; Apple, Samsung, Nokia and Ericsson.
