Top Mobiles Bank: Lenovo says it'll be the first to launch a 5G smartphone

Tuesday, 31 July 2018

Lenovo says it'll be the first to launch a 5G smartphone

Lenovo says it will be the first smartphone manufacturer to launch a 5G smartphone, powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 chipset.

A VP for the firm, Chang Cheng, took to Chinese social media site Weibo to reveal the plans.

No other detail about the handset was provided and Lenovo will have stiff competition from a number of rivals as they all try and push their 5G devices out towards the end of this year and into 2019.

December at the earliest?

The likelihood is though we won't see this device before December. That's because the Snapdragon 855 - that's said to be powering the handset - hasn't been officially launched yet.

Qualcomm is hosting its Snapdragon Summit during the first week of December where we expect the chip to be revealed.

This would be earliest the phone would realistically be announced, and if Lenovo leaves it any later then it would be in danger of missing out on the world first.

While 5G capabilities are likely to be heavily touted in smartphones launched from December onwards, it's unlikely you'll be able to take advantage of the new network generation right away.

It will take carriers and those in charge of the mobile infrastructure a little while to get their services up and running, so initially 5G will be a future-proofing feature rather than something for the here and now.