Posted on Thursday, February 22 2018 @ 16:56 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
Intel announced collaborations with Microsoft, Dell, HP, and Lenovo to bring its 5G modems to laptops by the 2019 holiday season. These systems will feature the Intel XMM 8060 modem, which has backwards compatibility with 2G, 3G and LTE. A first 2-in-1 concept with live-over-the-air 5G connectivity will be showcased at next month's Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona:
At MWC, we will be showcasing the first 5G-enabled concept 2 in 1 with a live over-the-air 5G connection to demonstrate the progress we’ve made to integrate these advanced wireless technologies into the mobile PC platform. We expect the first wave of 5G-connected PCs to be introduced to the market in the second half of 2019, building on our strong history of mobile PC connectivity leadership dating back to the first connected PC with integrated Wi-Fi in Intel Centrino.
PCs, of course, are not the only clients that will be smart and connected in the 5G era. Many of the first devices on 5G networks will be phones. To expand our entry into the China phone ecosystem, Intel and Unigroup Spreadtrum & RDA have established a multiyear collaboration to develop a portfolio of 5G products for mobile platforms, combining Intel 5G modems with Spreadtrum application processor technology. We expect Spreadtrum to launch its first 5G smartphone platform featuring an Intel XMM 8000 series modem in the second half of 2019.
Our progress in delivering 5G to the world was on full display this month at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018. Far beyond the labs, Intel delivered with KT Corporation the world’s largest 5G deployment to date: 22 5G links at 10 sites supporting various capabilities including image capture viewpoints, IPTV, virtual reality, Wi-Fi and other telemetry. We had successful multi-vendor interoperability with new services to spectators and visitors in several Olympic venues and public areas – live links, field-tested and supporting gigabit speeds. And key insights into our work in South Korea will enable advancements of high-speed wireless to an even bigger arena in Tokyo in 2020, and help deliver even more immersive experiences.
In the US, 5G service will be offered by AT&T and Verizon before the end of this year. T-mobile will follow in 2019. Qualcomm is also working on 5G modems and has partnerships with 18 phone companies.
