Midrange smartphones with 5g are expected to arrive next year

Midrange smartphones with 5G will probably arrive next year. Qualcomm has announced that an upcoming soc in the Snapdragon 700 series will have 5g. That is a series of socs for midrange telephones. A soc in the Snapdragon 600 series will follow in a year.

Phones from 12 manufacturers are arriving with the 5G soc in the Snapdragon 700 series, Qualcomm says. Among them are HMD-Nokia, Xiaomi’s Redmi, Oppo, Vivo, LG and Motorola. The soc has been with manufacturers since this spring and the first releases will follow at the end of this year or early next year. Phones with Snapdragon 700 series socs currently cost between 285 and 485 euros, Pricewatch data shows.

The soc supports lower frequencies, but also higher mmWave frequencies. Some current 5G phones already have support for this, but for example the Samsung Galaxy A90 5G and Galaxy Fold only support the lower frequencies. Also, according to Qualcomm, the upcoming soc will support 5g in ‘all major regions’.

In any case, it is a 7nm SOC, but Qualcomm will only announce other details later this year. Qualcomm also wants to announce the successor to the Snapdragon 855. The new Snapdragon 600-soc with 5g will follow in the second half of next year and should probably enable even cheaper smartphones with 5g. Phones with 5g now range in price from around 600 to more than 1300 euros.

In the Benelux, 5g will probably only be available in a year. Providers are waiting for the next frequency auction that will make the 700MHz band available for 5g. The 3.5GHz and 26GHz bands will probably follow later.