Samsung claims breakthrough in 5G mobile broadband: Download films in a second with 100 times faster smartphones

South Korean giant aims to commercialise technology within seven years

It’s one faster, isn’t it? With most people still waiting to upgrade to a phone or contract package that will allow them to skim the internet using 4G, it is with a weary shrug to the inevitability of progress that we acknowledge the news from South Korea that 5G mobile internet is on its way.

Samsung, a company that seems to be getting larger and more powerful every time you turn your back – like one of the Boo ghosts in Super Mario – announced in a company blog on Monday that its boffins have successfully developed transceiver technology which will allow them to roll out a 5G cellular band in about seven years’ time.

And, rather than being a noticeable but not game-changing upgrade like the one from poor, tardy 3G to 4G, Samsung reckons this technology could provide data transmission at a whopping 100 times faster than the current 4G networks of 2012. Which seems almost unnecessarily speedy.

And though you may have to wait until after 2020 to sign up for a compatible phone and the requisite eye-watering contract, the data speed could mean that downloads of huge files, such as HD films, could take mere seconds. Seconds!

Samsung’s announcement follows the news last month that the University of Surrey has been granted £35m in funding to create a centre dedicated to researching 5G technologies.

It’s obviously hard to comprehend what our phones will be capable of by the time 5G becomes a commercial reality – 2020 is further away in years than the iPhone is years old, after all. But if there’s one thing you can guarantee, it’s that by the time you sign up for a £50-a-month, 5G contract, it won’t be long before new advances in 6G technology are announced…

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