How can the fabric of a simple dress be part of our 5G vision?

The excitement for 5G is building and we are seeing great momentum across the industry. Qualcomm Technologies kicked off the charge with our early 5G NR-compliant prototypes in 2016, followed by the announcement of the Qualcomm Snapdragon X50 5G modem. In 2017, we achieved more milestones including the World's first interoperable 5G NR spec-compliant data connection. At MWC Barcelona 2018, we showcased a 5G NR mmWave data connection in a smartphone form factor as well as demonstrated a series of 5G NR spec-compliant connections with ecosystem leaders spanning sub-6 and mmWave radios. All of these milestones have set the stage for mobile network operator field trials slated for later this year.

And just last week, we reached yet another milestone as we announced the 5G NR mmWave and sub-6 GHz RF modules for mobile devices. Bringing the ecosystem together with our technologies to make 5G NR a commercial reality by 2019 is my top priority, along with guiding our 5G research to drive our broader 5G vision beyond 2019.

Our inventions are fueling the 5G ecosystem expansion

While the first phase of 5G NR focuses on bringing new mobile broadband experiences, the broader ambition of 5G is to expand cellular technology into a multitude of industries, transforming and creating new ones along the way. Defining 5G NR for new vertical services, such as the industrial IoT, will become the focus for 3GPP Release 16 and beyond, and new projects were agreed upon at the 3GPP June Plenary meetings in San Diego.

5G is a unifying connectivity fabric for future innovations

We expect the full proliferation of 5G to bring significant economic value to our society, generating more than $12.3T by 2035. We see 5G as a unifying connectivity fabric that not only supports today’s services, but also establishes an innovative platform that can enable unforeseen services tomorrow.

To illustrate some of the anticipated use cases for the next few years, we created a new 5G vision presentation that shows how 5G will enrich people’s lives — touching virtually every aspect of our daily life. From precision agriculture and flexible manufacturing, to collaborative workspace and autonomous transportation, 5G will be essential beyond the immersive entertainment experiences that we expect it to deliver from 2019 onward.

Realizing 5G’s full potential requires transformation of the wireless edge

Today, we are well on our way to 5G in 2019, but to fully realize 5G’s potential will require much more than just 5G technology. As virtually everything gets connected in this new 5G era, what is the role of the cloud, and where should intelligence be located? How do we scale to the massive amount of data that will be created? Can we create entirely new classes of services leveraging 5G’s extreme capacity and low latency and distributed processing?

Those are some important questions that need to be answered. In my next blog post, I’ll provide answers to those questions and explain what the wireless edge transformation means—as it already has begun — so stay tuned!

Qualcomm Snapdragon is a product of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries.