APPLEOPPOLGSAMSUNGXIAOMIONEPLUSMOTOROLACOMING SOON...
The 5G phonesyoucanexpecttoseein 2020 fromeverybigplayer
Apple has so far been quiet about its 5G
iPhone plans, but it always plays its cards
close to its chest. If the rumour mill is to
be believed, at least some of the
September 2020 iPhones will have 5G on
board, and it would be a surprise if Apple
waited until 2021 to introduce the
next-gen technology.The Oppo Reno was one of the best-
specced 5G phones we saw through the
course of last year, and that bodes well for
what’s to come in 2020. Part of the same
family of phone makers as OnePlus, it’s
likely that Oppo’s 5G phones for this year
will be a little more experimental and
unusual than the rest.
LG has already put its flag(ship) in the
ground in terms of 5G, and is expected to
introduce the next-gen connectivity to
the LG G9 ThinQ phone – a handset that
could be with us as early as February. LG
isn’t shy of experimenting with form
factors and specs, so it might have some
5G surprises lined up for 2020 too.Samsunghasputoutmore5Gphones
thananyoneelse,andthattrendwill
continuethrough2020.Prettymuchevery
phoneSamsungunveilsthisyear–
includingtheGalaxyS20andtheGalaxy
Note 20 – willcomewith5Gmodelsas
options,andindeedtheremaybemore
5Gvariantsthan4Gones.HUAWEI
Fromthesoftwareside,Huawei’sphones
havetakena hitwithitsongoingbanfrom
usingGoogleproducts,soexpectthe
Chinesecompanytogoall-inonhardware
thisyear– thatmeansmore5Gphonesin
2020.TheP40Proshouldbethefirstto
appeararoundMarchtime,andboth4G
and5Gmodelsarelikely.Xiaomiwillwanttocontinueitsmoveinto
westernmarketsduringthecourseof
2020,andthatmeansputtingoutmore
5Gphones– thecompanyhasalready
saidit willputoutatleast10(!)5Gphones
thisyear,includingtheXiaomiMi 10 due
inFebruary,andmanyofthemshouldbe
relativelyaffordabletoo.Havingdippeditstoesintothe5Gwaters
in2019,OnePlusis likelytogofurtherin
2020,andthepeopleintheknoware
alreadytipping5Gtobeavailableonone
oftheOnePlus8 modelsdueinthefirst
halfoftheyear.ExpectOnePlustostill
offera moreaffordableflagshipphone
withouttheextra5G,though.HONOR
Honor usually puts out handsets that are
more affordable and aimed at a younger
audience. Having dabbled with 5G at the
end of 2019 with the View 30 Series, we
definitely expect to see some mainstream
5G Honor phones released during 2020- though we doubt there’ll be a huge
number of them.
Motorola doesn’t have a 5G phone yet,
but it does have a 5G mod for the Z3 and
Z4 handsets. The first full 5G Moto phone
should appear in 2020, though it won’t be
the foldable Razr, which is 4G only – if that
proves to be a hit then an updated
next-gen v2 Razr with 5G on board seems
like a slam dunk.Technology
The year of 5G
May 2020 | |^55