Superfast sixth-generation, or 6G, mobile internet services may not be that far off, thanks to Qualcomm. In fact, the first wave of 6G devices is expected to arrive as early as 2028.

During the Vision Keynote presentation at its annual event, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon revealed that the company is gearing up for devices with 6G connectivity within the next three years. Amon clarified that these would be “pre-commercial” devices – basically, test models designed to demonstrate 6G’s capabilities.

“We have been very busy working on the next generation of connectivity…which is 6G. Designed to be the connection between the cloud and Edge devices,” Amon said.

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“The difference between 5G and 6G, besides increasing the speeds, increasing broadband, increasing the amount of data, it’s also a network that has intelligence to have perception and sensor data,” Amon added. “We’re going to have completely new use cases for this network of intelligence – connecting the edge and the cloud.

“We have been working on this for a while, and it’s sooner than you think. We are ready to have pre-commercial devices with 6G as early as 2028. We’re going to have context-aware intelligence at scale.”

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While this doesn’t mean smartphone makers will start selling 6G-enabled devices to consumers immediately, it marks the beginning of a testing phase for the upcoming 6G wireless standard.

6G will succeed 5G, the current-generation mobile internet technology that offers significantly faster data download and upload speeds. 5G was rolled out in major markets a few years ago, and nearly all new smartphones now support it.

However, 6G will be markedly different from 5G. Industry insiders predict that the transition from 5G to 6G will require a radical overhaul of semiconductor technology, circuits, systems, and related algorithms. Experts believe that smartphone companies will bring their next-generation 6G devices to the commercial market before 2030.

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Meanwhile, some predict that 6G could render smartphones obsolete within a decade, though not everyone agrees. In fact, 6G is expected to create a more advanced ecosystem of interconnected products, where driver-less cars, smartphones, smart glasses and augmented and virtual reality headsets communicate seamlessly with one another. Whether smartphones will remain as central as they are today, however, remains to be seen.

6G was heavily discussed at this year’s Mobile World Congress, the world’s largest mobile industry trade show held annually in Barcelona, with global telecommunications companies sharing their views on the next generation of mobile internet after 5G.

5G adoption among consumers, however, remains relatively low. In fact, only one in seven people worldwide currently use a 5G smartphone, according to Strategy Analytics.

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5G was hyped when it began rolling out just before the COVID-19 pandemic in countries like the US. However, despite hundreds of billions of dollars invested in 5G networks, carriers have struggled to see a return. Monetising 5G remains one of the biggest challenges for telecom companies.

The writer is in Maui, Hawaii, attending the Qualcomm Snapdragon summit