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            MARKET ANALYSIS: BEYOND 5G, TOWARD 6G
           Consumer 5G Opens Door to Development

           Opportunities


           By Cédric Malaquin, Mohammed Tmimi, and Antoine Bonnabel, Yole Développement

           Now that the technology is available, expect new                        market even faster than LTE did more than
           services to follow.                                                     10 years ago.
                                                                                     The 5G smartphone market will more than
                                                                                   double in 2021 from last year’s 226 million
                  ow that mobile network operators   tions. One is virtual shopping, which could   units, and 5G will represent 50% of smart-
                  (MNOs) have started to advance   revolutionize the retail customer experience.   phone sales between 2022 and 2023. Though
                  their deployment of 5G networks,   Another strong developmental focus is cloud   5G was driven mainly by the Chinese market
          Nthe industry is turning its atten-  gaming, for which consumers need access   in 2020, a clear acceleration can now be seen
           tion to the critical question of return on   to powerful platforms and for which strong,   in the United States as well as in the Japanese
           investment. Optimizing ROI requires the   fast, low-latency communication is required.   and European markets. By the end of 2021,
           monitoring of key metrics, including the   5G coverage is an essential enabler for    U.S. network providers will have started roll-
           average revenue per user and the global cost   this specific, high-value, and rapidly devel-  ing out their C-band networks, with network
           of the network. In this regard, 5G has been   oping application.        carrier Verizon in the lead, thus spreading
           designed to be more efficient than 4G and,   An interesting characteristic of cloud   the 5G broadband network nationwide. This
           by extension, more efficient than all previous   gaming is that it is pushed not only by   initiative, combined with the current efforts
           generations of communications technology.  network carriers but also by the GAFAM com-  to deploy a 5G millimeter-wave (mmWave)
             At the end of 2020, all network carriers   panies (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon,   grid with base stations, repeaters, and other
           globally started to launch new services for   and Microsoft), which have recognized the   means to improve coverage, will make the
           consumers based on their 5G networks.    strong potential for development around the   U.S. 5G network one of the fastest and most
           The main new applications are virtual reality   application. Expect to see the development   sophisticated in the world.
           and augmented reality. The technological   of new services — and the creation of a new
           approaches for these two applications at   era for advanced digital communications —   SMARTPHONE OEMs TO LEVERAGE
           the forefront of 5G innovation have been   as an additional benefit of these companies’   RF FRONT-END PLAYERS’ EXPERTISE
           oriented toward high-quality streaming and   entrance into the field.   Smartphone OEMs have upgraded their
           immersive experience.                 As a result of these dynamics, with MNOs   product lines, accommodating the latest air
             Immersion can come, for example, from   and GAFAMs working together on 5G adop-  standard in each of their market segments so
           multi-view–angle technology and can find   tion, this new generation of communications   that consumers can get access to 5G phones
           some interesting practical implementa-  technology is penetrating the smartphone   starting from the low price point of US$150




























                                                                                                                      IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK










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