GSA: 135 5G devices are already commercially available
Earlier this week, the Global mobile Supplies Association (GSA) reported that there are now 317 devices around the world that support 5G. Of those, 135 are understood to be commercially available, up from 112 5G supported devices at the end of May.
According to the report, 86 vendors have announced available or forthcoming next-gen devices and when it comes to smartphone, specifically, at least 95 of the 135 revealed are now commercially available, more than doubling since the end of June and increasing by 55% over the last three months.
In addition, GSA reported 85 CPE devices, 49 modules, 22 hotspots, 5 laptops and 21 other devices (including drones, head mounted displays, robots, snap-on dongles/adapters, a switch, tablets, TVs, USB terminals/dongles/modems and a vending machine) that all support 5G.
Beyond just looking into whether a device support 5G, the GSA also tracked which spectrum bands the devices support, finding that 76.3% of all announced 5G devices are said to support sub-6 GHz bands while 26.5% of devices are said to support millimeter wave spectrum. Only 20.5% of all announced devices support both types of bands, however.
And when it comes to those devices that are actually on the market right now, only 31 commercially available devices (23%) are said to support services operating in mmWave spectrum, while a staggering 88.9% are said to support the sub-6GHz spectrum.
At the end of June 2020, according to the report, the bands most supported by 5G devices include n78, n41, n79 and n78, with n78 being the most popularly supported band by 148 devices, followed by n41 band (128 devices) and n79 band (100 devices), respectively.
“As we continue to see more and more 5G services launched around the world, it is fixed wireless access and phones which are driving the early pace,” said GSA President Joe Barrett.
The full July 2020 5G Ecosystem Report can be downloaded for free here.