Is 5.5G phones coming? Your phone may not support it!

PConline太平洋科技

2024-06-05 14:41Posted in Guangdong Digital Creators

Since MWC 2024 China Mobile officially announced the 5G-A (5.5G) commercial plan, China Mobile 5G-A commercial conference has also been held in China, and at the same time, OPPO, vivo, Xiaomi and other mobile phone brands have also reported that they will take the lead in supporting 5.5G mobile communications, and this series of actions are announcing the arrival of the first year of 5.5G commercialization.

For ordinary consumers, perception may not be very strong, and even for 5G, it is an afterthought. And the upcoming 5.5G must also be poorly understood. As for the so-called 5.5G, not all mobile phones can be used.

Source: China Mobile

What is 5.5G?

As early as 2020, the concept of 5.5G appeared, and its full name is 5G Advance (5G-A), which is a transition technology between 5G and 6G. According to China Mobile's explanation, 5.5G has six capabilities: immersive communication, integrated synaesthesia, deterministic network, intelligent and lightweight, integrated space and earth, and integrated computing and intelligence. These terms do seem incomprehensible, but for us ordinary consumers, the stronger perception is faster internet speed and more powerful AI computing power.

On the one hand, the network speed of 5.5G will be upgraded, with gigabit uplink and 10 gigabit downlink, which means that the speed of uploading and downloading will be greatly improved, which is 10 times that of 5G at this stage. For example, when you use 5.5G to download files, it can theoretically reach 1000MB/s, but this is only a theoretical value, and it will actually be lower, after all, the environment will be different. However, it can also be seen from this point that the ultra-high network speed of 5.5G is very beneficial for us to download various large files in the future, especially the update of large mobile games.

On the other hand, 5.5G is also a significant improvement in AI computing power, especially in today's popular mobile phone AI, which is more like a tiger with wings. For example, when we are on a call, we need to convert speech to text and summarize key information points, which is achieved through the operator's large model technology. 5.5G can improve the computing power of base stations, quickly feed back to users in a short period of time, and bring intelligent experience.

In addition, 5.5G also has the characteristics of high-precision positioning and low latency, which is a great improvement for navigation and positioning and game frame rate. There are many applications of 5.5G, and the application at the industrial level is quite extensive, but for us consumers, the strongest perception is nothing more than these.

Speaking of which, you may be thinking, so how to upgrade 5.5G? Is it necessary to replace 5.5G mobile phones like the original 5G?

Are 5.5G phones really coming?

As the most popular hardware product of 5.5G, mobile phones have naturally received important support from operators. After China Mobile's official announcement, many mobile phone manufacturers have followed up one after another, saying that they will adapt to 5.5G. OPPO officially announced on the same day that it would take the lead in supporting 5.5G mobile communications, making the OPPO Find X7 series the industry's first 5.5G mobile phone. Soon after, Xiaomi officially posted a photo of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra testing 5.5G network speed;vivo also said that its vivo X Fold3、vivo X100 series will support 5.5G mobile communications。

We all know that when 5G first appeared, if you want to use the 5G network, you need to replace the 5G mobile phone and upgrade the 5G calling card. Nowadays, when it comes to 5.5G, there will naturally be requirements on the device, but not all mobile phones do not support it. China Mobile mentioned in its 5G mobile phone white paper that if you want your phone to support 5.5G, you need to have carrier aggregation technology, which can splice the bandwidth of two frequency bands together to enhance network speed. Therefore, as long as the mobile phone supports CA_n41A-n28A, CA_n41C, and CA_n41A_n79A, it is basically able to support 5.5G.

Combined with the official announcement information of the current mobile phone manufacturers, mobile phones equipped with Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and Dimensity 9300 can be adapted to 5.5G through OTA upgrades in the future. If the user is lower than the configuration model, you can check whether the mobile phone is compatible with the above frequency bands, and you can know whether the model in your hand can use 5.5G.

Therefore, from the product level, the era of 5.5G mobile phones has indeed come, and consumers will soon be able to experience the high-speed network and powerful AI capabilities brought by 5.5G. But in terms of popularity, I don't think that's enough. Because product adaptation naturally prioritizes adapting to newly released products, coupled with the extended replacement cycle of users, it is a long way to promote the popularization of 5.5G through iterative products.

It has been nearly five years since 5G was commercially available, but by the end of 2023, the 5G user penetration rate exceeded 50%. Although it is already among the leading ranks in the world, there are still many users who have not upgraded to 5G, and mobile phone products are not supported or the package is expensive, which is a very important reason. For the upcoming 5.5G, pricing will naturally become a consideration for users when choosing 5.5G.

The first batch of cities for the commercial use of 5.5G networks includes 100 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. At present, all provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across the country have opened China Mobile 5G Advanced demonstration halls, and interested users can also go to experience it in advance.

Write at the end

In any case, 5.5G commercial use has begun, and for us ordinary consumers, it may only be an improvement in network speed and intelligent experience. However, for many other industries, 5.5G will make a qualitative change in their production efficiency, which will gradually show its unique advantages as 5.5G technology becomes more popular. On this basis, we can also look forward to the future 6G era, which may be a more digital era, or it will come soon.

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