China Mobile, partners launch first 5G devices

Members of the China Mobile-led 5G Device Forerunner Initiative have used Mobile World Congress to announce the launch of their first batch of devices, including China Mobile’s own in-house developed Forerunner One.

Forerunner One is a 5G mobile smart hub device powered by Qualcomm’s inaugural Snapdragon X50 5G modem.

The device supports connections in sub-6GHz 5G frequencies including the 2.6-GHz band, and is designed to convert high-speed 5G data into Wi-Fi and WiGig signals.

It comes installed with Android 9.0 and an AI voice assistant, and is expected to reach the market in the first half of 2019.

Meanwhile the members of the initiative have also used the event to launch four 5G chipsets – from Qualcomm, Huawei, MediaTek and Unisoc respectively – as well as 5G devices from Huawei, vivo, OPPO, ZTE, Xiaomi and Samsung.

Some of the launched devices support both nonstandalone and standalone 5G, and others support peak throughputs of up to 4.67Gbps in sub-6GHz frequencies.

The 5G Device Forerunner Initiative was established a year ago during the GTI Summit in Barcelona. So far 36 members comprising all aspects of the device industry have participated in the initiative.