Super-fast 5G phones coming in 2019 that could download 4K films on Netflix in seconds
Say goodbye to buffering TV shows and movies, as the UK gets ready to embark on a journey of blisteringly speedy mobile downloads
READY for blindingly fast mobile internet that will download 4K movies in seconds? So are phone makers – well, nearly.
A raft of top smartphones coming in 2019 will support speedy 5G internet, which is the successor to the current 4G networks we have today.
Right now our mobile networks are 4G, or fourth-generation.
It's the marketing name we give to Long-Term Evolution (LTE) networks, which provide high-speed wireless internet to your smartphones in the UK.
The next generation of mobile internet – which is being sensibly branded as 5G – is right around the corner, but not all smartphones will support it.
To work with 5G networks, you'll need a phone with a high-end modem (the bit that lets your phone connect to the internet).
Back in 2016, chip maker Qualcomm – which supplies Apple and Samsung with their phone parts – debuted a seriously powerful modem called the Snapdragon X50.
This modem is 5G-ready, but it's not currently available in any smartphones.
However, the US chip giant has confirmed that it's working with 18 different phone companies to release 5G-ready smartphones in 2019.
These companies include major phone makers like Nokia, Sony, HTC, LG, Asus, Sharp, and Fujitsu.
Recent tests showed the Snapdragon X50 managing incredible downloads speeds of 5 gigabits per second.
A standard 4K movie weighs in at a file size of around 30 gigabytes and – at that speed – could be downloaded in around 40 seconds.
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For comparison, the fastest UK phone networks are currently only capable of download speeds of around 150 megabits per second – around 30 times slower than the Snapdragon X50's peak speed.
The problem is that UK phone networks will first have to roll out 5G networks, which probably won't happen until 2020.
But the good news is that once those speedy phone networks arrive, we'll already have 5G-ready phones to take advantage of the lofty download speeds.