Huawei reveals when its first 5G smartphone will launch

NEW DELHI: Huawei is planning or probably is already working, on joining the 5G smartphone bandwagon. The Chinese tech firm is the second after ZTE to confirm its plans for a 5G network supporting handset. The piece of information was revealed in its 2018 global analyst summit at Shenzhen. In one of the slides the company clearly showed a 5G handset coming in ‘H2 2019’, which means anywhere from June to December.

However, the company later said the device to arrive in Q3 2019, which narrows down the launch months to July, August and September. “Now @Huawei is saying Q3 2019 for #5G handsets during Q&A which sounds more inline with expectations. #HAS2018,” confirmed Anshel Sag, an analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy on Twitter.




The tech giant usually launches its ‘Mate’ branded handset in the second half of every year so we are assuming the 2019 Huawei ‘Mate’ flagship handset might be the debuting with 5G support.

Furthermore, it has been mentioned that Huawei will be using its own 5G modem in the upcoming smartphone. For what’s worth, the company has already launched its first 5G modem called Balong 5G01 chip. However, it is not for sure if the same chip will power the smartphone or an upgraded version.

Huawei is familiar with the 5G concept as it has already started working on that direction both in terms of implementation and hardware. The latest Huawei P20 and Huawei P20 Pro already come with 4.5G LTE network support. The handset is touted to support download speeds of up to 1.2Gbps. It is worth adding that the P10 and the P10 Plus also supported 4.5G networks.

The firm is all set to deploy 5G services on its home turf China. According to a report, it has completed 5G network trial in the country. The company has even introduced 5G core network solution at MWC 2018 conference earlier this year.