China Mobile’s '5G Device Forerunner Initiative', established at Mobile World Congress 2018, has this year launched its first batch of results, including four 5G chipsets and nine 5G devices. The 5G chipsets will be provided by Qualcomm, Huawei, MediaTek and Unisoc. The nine 5G devices will be released by China Mobile, Huawei, Vivo, Oppo, ZTE, Xiaomi and Samsung. Among the 5G devices, some will support both NSA and SA, while some will have peak throughputs that reach 4.67 Gbps in sub-6 GHz spectrum, the operator said. The first commercial devices are expected to reach the market by June.
As part of the wider introduction, China Mobile also unveiled Forerunner One, its new 5G Smart Hub. The device is equipped with traditional CPE functions and supports WiGig-enhanced connection capability to transfer a 5G signal to other devices without quality loss. The hub also supports AI voice and comes in a light-weight format so it can easily be held in one hand. Forerunner One is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X50 5G modem and supports sub-6 GHz 5G frequencies, including the 2.6 GHz band.
China Mobile set up the 5G Device Forerunner Initiative in February 2018. About 36 members have so far participated in the initiative, covering the whole industry, including terminals, chipsets, components and instrumentation. In 2019, the initiative will continue to focus on four key issues for 5G devices: maturity of communication capability, differentiated values, diverse forms and low-cost solutions.
The initiative will release a technical whitepaper on 5G commercial devices, carry out joint tests for devices, and continue to upgrade the consumer experience. The initiative will also establish a '5G New Frequency Band (2.6GHz) Special Promotion Group' to discuss technical issues and to launch new integrated RF devices. By inviting partners from vertical industry and internet applications to jointly research and explore 5G business applications and device forms, the group hopes to launch more forms of intelligent devices and produce different type and multi-category devices. It will also set up an industry benchmarking.
China Mobile received trial 5G spectrum at the end of 2018 in the 2.6 and 4.8 GHz bands. In December it already previewed a number of planned 5G devices and announced partners, and in January it started the first field tests of 5G services.
