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HUAWEI says cheap 5G phones are coming next year
The first wave of 5G phones launched this year have largely been expensive, with the likes of LG, Samsung, and Huawei all touting $1000+ price tags for their devices.
Now, HUAWEI consumer business group CEO Richard Yu has told journalists that cheap 5G phones will be a reality in 2020.
“5G will definitely hit mid-range and even low price range definitely from next year (sic),” Yu told journalists at the Mate 30 event. “This year (our) premium segmentation is 5G, next year we will go to middle tier 5G smartphones, and later on, the low tier.”
HUAWEI adopted the Kirin 810 as the chipset of choice for mid-range phones in 2019, so we’re likely looking at a follow-up with 5G next year. The firm doesn’t really have dedicated low-end chipsets though, but it shifted 2018’s Kirin 710 processor, originally designed for mid-range phones, to lower tier devices in 2019. So it’s possible we could see a 5G-enabled successor to the Kirin 710.
In fact, Yu suggests that consumers might not want to buy a 4G device due to the coming wave of 5G phones. Then again, if the U.S. trade ban against HUAWEI isn’t lifted, you might be forced to buy an older 4G device if you want pre-installed Google support.
Either way, 5G connectivity is slated to hit a variety of price points in 2020. Samsung’s Exynos 980, set to land in phones from next year, offers an integrated modem for upper mid-range devices. Meanwhile, Qualcomm has announced that it’s bringing 5G to Snapdragon 600, 700, and 800 series chipsets. So even without HUAWEI in the picture, it looks like cheap 5G phones will be available.