Earlier this week, ZTE announced that it would join the 5G connectivity revolution with the release of an industry-first smartphone supporting the said technology. And today, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the company has taken a leap-frogging step with the unveiling of a concept device called the ‘Gigabit phone.’
And what’s amazing about this device is that ZTE boasts of amazing download speeds of 1 Gbps, something we haven’t heard about till date. The gigabit phone is currently a proof of concept that’ll lay the groundwork for eventually building the said device.
While 5G technology has been under development for a better half of last year, the devices still haven’t started adapting to the coming change. Several technology giants have successfully conducted closed 5G trials across various parts of the world and the most popular chipmaker Qualcomm has unveiled the world’s first LTE-capable chip last year. But, there has been a lack of hardware supporting the said network technology.
To deliver the ultra high-speeds, ZTE will be making use of the latest and greatest Snapdragon 835 processor which comes packed with the latest X16 modem. The phone will be able to achieve 1 Gbps download speeds with support from the chip and carrier aggregation. It means that the phone will bundle together 4G bands to leverage their strength. But, it’ll be topped off by ZTE’s own Pre-5G Giga+ MBB technology that is three times powerful at improving data processing capability in the current network.
Talking about the same, a ZTE spokesperson says,
We are thrilled to introduce the world’s first smartphone with download speeds up to 1Gbps. With the new device, the way people stay connected will be changed forever. Focusing on 5G technologies will be one of the key priorities of ZTE’s global development.
ZTE will be very glad to leverage its technology strength and experience in 5G to cooperate with government and business partners to discuss and facilitate the upcoming 5G era.
In addition to delivering an ultrafast connectivity, ZTE claims that the Gigabit phone will also be proficient of capturing 360-degree VR panoramic videos, provide unlimited cloud storage, and instant apps — the technology which enables access to apps without the need for download or installation. Further, the gigabit speed will inherently be supported on 5G networks — as is being said by most researchers. But, the aforementioned technology will bring such ultrafast speeds to 4G networks as well.
The company has neither offered further details about this concept phone (something they’ve been building more regularly of recent) nor have they made clear if a prototype will be available at their booth or not. But, it would be highly beneficial to own a mobile device that can support 5G wireless services and offer such high download speeds. It might also bring in some much-needed revenues for the Chinese giant as well.
