The 5G device ecosystem continues to grow and the number of announced 5G devices has hit 400, more than doubling since the start of 2020, according to a new report from the Global mobile Suppliers Association.
Four hundred and one 5G devices from 93 vendors had been announced by the end of August. That figure includes regional variants and phones that can be made 5G-capable through a separate adapter, but it excludes operator-branded duplicates of other devices. Of those 401 devices, the GSA said, 190 were commercially available, up from 162 at the end of July. There are 138 5G phones commercially available now, according to the GSA’s tracking, which is an increase of 25 in the past month and includes three phones that rely on an attachable adapter to enable the phone to access 5G.
While phones are the most common 5G device form factor, they’re far from the only one. The GSA has identified 18 form factors that include head-mounted displays, indoor or outdoor customer premise equipment, modules, drones, robots, tablets, hot spots, laptops, cameras, TVS and even a vending machine. CPE makes up about 100 of the announced 5G devices.
Specification details remain limited for some devices, the GSA noted, but around 300, or 77.3% of all announced 5G devices, are understood to support sub-6 GHz spectrum while 21.7% have millimeter wave support. Only about 16% of the announced devices support both types of bands.
The GSA added that based on vendors’ previous statements and recent rates of device release, the number of commercially available devices is expected to rise from 190 to more than 200 by the end of September.
Read more from the GSA here.
