Qualcomm: 5G to enable 8K 120fps 10-bit color video streaming

Mobile data communication is getting faster and faster. The next major evolution will be 5G and this wireless system definitely offers impressive bandwidth. Over at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Qualcomm released test results of two real-world 5G tests it performed in Frankfurt and San Francisco.

In the Frankfurt simulation, Qualcomm saw median download speeds of 490Mbps for 5G users, almost nine times faster than the 56Mbps delivered to the median 4G user.

The Frankfurt simulation is the more basic network, based on 100 MHz of 3.5GHz spectrum with an underlying gigabit-LTE network on 5 LTE spectrum bands, but the results are still staggering. Browsing jumped from 56 Mbps for the median 4G user to more than 490 Mbps for the median 5G user, with roughly seven times faster response rates for browsing. Download speeds also improved dramatically, with over 90 percent of users seeing at least 100 Mbps download speeds on 5G, versus 8 Mbps on LTE.

In the San Francisco test, the results were even better:

There, Qualcomm modeled a network operating in 800 MHz of 28 GHz mmWave spectrum, built on top of a gigabit-LTE network on four licensed LTE bands in addition to License Assisted Access (LAA) bands.

Browsing speeds went up from 71 Mbps for the median 4G user to 1.4 Gbps for the median 5G user (in mmWave coverage), with response times roughly 23 times faster. Download speeds for 90 percent of users went from at least 10 Mbps to 186 Mbps on 5G, with the median speed clocking in at 442 Mbps.

Basically, the 5G networks will be able to offer speeds that can't be matched by many of today's traditional cable Internet providers. Qualcomm says 5G will be able to significantly increase video quality, with median users being able to enjoy 8K video streaming with a framerate of 120fps and 10-bit color.

Via: The Verge