5G WIRE: iPhone 2020, smart 5G city, LG Uplus ready

iPhone XR suppliers India
Image credit: Nemanja Zotovic / Shutterstock.com

5G action this day: Apple to wait until 2020 to launch 5G iPhone; PLDT/Smart to build ‘smart 5G city’; LG Uplus ready to start 5G on December 1

Apple will wait until 2020 to launch 5G iPhone: report

Apple’s first 5G iPhone is scheduled for release in 2020, and will feature Intel’s 8161 5G modem chip, an anonymous source has told Fast Company.

According to the report, while the first wave of 5G handsets will be unveiled by OEMs such as Oppo, Huawei, and Xiaomi at Mobile World Congress early next year, Apple is in no hurry in part because 5G coverage will be sparse anyway even by 2020, so lack of demand won’t justify the rush.

Also, there are reportedly still technical issues to work out with the chipset – namely, heat dissipation generated from supporting mmWave frequencies. Fast Company notes this problem is not limited to Intel 5G chipsets.  Read more …

PLDT/Smart to build ‘smart 5G city’ for Clark Development

PLDT, wireless subsidiary Smart Communications and Clark Development Corp (CDC) have signed a memorandum of understanding to launch Clark Freeport Zone (CFZ) as the Philippines’ first ‘smart 5G city’.

Under the MoU, PLDT and Smart, together with Ericsson, will be ramping up the roll-out of LTE in key areas in CFZ and equipping all of them with 5G facilities in the coming months, with the first 5G cell site expected to be switched on later this month.

Smart also said it has deployed over 2,000 5G-ready sites elsewhere in the country as part of its current network upgrade program. Earlier in August, Smart and Ericsson signed an MoU to deploy a 5G pilot network in Luzon by the first half of 2019. Read more …

LG Uplus ready to start 5G on December 1

South Korean cellco LG Uplus says that it has wrapped up cell planning for its 5G network in cooperation with Forsk, and will launch 5G services in Seoul, its surrounding area and select metropolitan cities next month.

According to the Korea Times, South Korea’s three mobile operators – KT, SK Telecom and LGUplus – have been planning to launch smartphone-based 5G services in March 2019, but all three also intend to launch 5G next month, initially offering Wi-Fi routers. LGplus says its 5G network will go live December 1. Read more …

Be the first to comment

What do you think?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.