5G device outlook

RedCap wearables supported by 5G SA

The first widely used smartwatch supporting 5G SA reduced capability (RedCap) is now supported by over 20 service providers, underscoring a growing focus on 5G SA-enabled devices. Although wearables cannot compare in sales volume to smartphones, they may have an important role in the future device ecosystem. Device manufacturers selecting 5G SA with RedCap for devices requiring long battery life confirms that the 5G SA era is here, with the rest of the ecosystem expected to follow.

Smart glasses in the 5G era

Lightweight smart glasses typically connect to the cellular network through a companion device, such as a smartphone, but integrated connectivity is expected in the next two to three years. RedCap can play an important role here, providing the size and power efficiency required for this form factor. Companion devices will continue to be important for offloading compute from the glasses, but edge computing is expected to be the way forward. Early adopters of AI/AR glasses report benefits such as the simplicity of hands-free phone calls and use of the simple screen for incoming messages. The question of whether smart glasses will ultimately replace smartphones remains: Currently, sales volumes are less than 1 percent of smartphones.

Growth of 5G SA-only devices

In China, there is a growing trend toward 5G SA-only devices to reduce cost and increase simplicity. This trend is expected to drive demand for SA roaming, as most service providers today rely on non-standalone (NSA) when subscribers roam. Without SA roaming, these devices will need to fall back to LTE when abroad.

Boosting uplink performance

The smartphone industry is increasingly focusing on uplink performance. Some commercial smartphones now include support for uplink carrier aggregation (CA), combining frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD) frequency bands to boost capacity and performance. Certain models also support uplink Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO), enabling the simultaneous transmission of data over several antennas, increasing uplink speed and reliability. A few devices implement Release 16 uplink transmit (TX) switching, a feature that lets the smartphone intelligently switch between uplink antennas depending on signal conditions, providing improved connection stability and energy efficiency.

However, adding more uplink capabilities to the smartphone can introduce size, complexity, cost and battery performance challenges. For Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), there is a concurrent trend to increase output power to strengthen the uplink signal. Overall, the intensified focus on uplink aligns with today’s demanding user behavior, where people upload content more than ever before.

EVs and drones driving 5G innovation

Smartphone vendors and established chipset vendors are now investing in the electric vehicle (EV) sector. As cars offload more computational tasks, their data consumption increases. Self-driving taxis, for example, rely on reliable connectivity that can be further enhanced using network slicing.

The low-altitude digital airspace ecosystem, particularly the drone segment, is becoming an important market for 5G connectivity, with 5G SA enabling digital services that enhance cost-efficiency and support weight requirements of drones.