CES 2017 saw lots of interesting devices and technologies, many of them being ready for the public right now such as super thin TVs or advanced robots. Qualcomm, on the other hand, talked about the future. A future filled with IoT devices, autonomous cars, interconnected societies and next-gen 5G technology.
The next generation of wireless technology is as important as electricity, or automobiles, at least according to Stephen Mollenkopf, Qualcomm CEO. Mollenkopf held a keynote at CES 2017, explaining how the world of tomorrow will revolve around 5G networks. According to Stephen Mollenkopf, “5G will be a new kind of network, supporting a vast diversity of devices with unprecedented scale, speed, and complexity. 5G will have an impact similar to the introduction of electricity or the automobile, affecting entire economies and benefiting entire societies.”
The evolution of mobile networks brought incredible advancements. With 3G we finally got the bandwidth wide enough for fast surfing, quick downloads and the network capable of supporting app stores. 4G brought HD video to our mobile devices, as well as super-fast download speeds. 5G will give us a whole new level of connectivity. With 5G, entire cities will be connected and IoT will finally explode, entering millions of households throughout the world, with the high bandwidth being omnipresent.
According to Qualcomm, three key things will define our connected future: VR, the internet of things and connectivity for mission-critical tasks like autonomous cars and health care. Now, all of this will be possible to achieve with ultra-low latency (as low as 1 millisecond). We already have crazy download speeds, but the low latency will enable streaming of data-heavy content like VR, and the rise of complex new systems such as worldwide autonomous car network.
The Snapdragon 835 chip, made by Qualcomm, is the forerunner of the 5G connectivity. With it you’ll be able to enjoy crystal clear VR videos, watch content that is too bandwidth-demanding to be streamed at the moment and communicate with the ever-expanding IoT. We will be connected to it at all times. The next time you fall from your bike, the sensors placed inside the smart health band you’re wearing will notify your doctor that something went wrong.
For now, ideas presented by Qualcomm sound incredibly advanced. The hardware is here, and the last hurdle left for us to jump over is the rise of 5G networks, since they are still years from becoming a reality.