Earlier this year, Chinese manufacturers started pushing software updates to their flagships, in order to bring support for 5.5G or 5G-Advanced networks, which had started to be deployed in China. At the time, it seemed like the United States was far from similar developments.
However, I couldn’t have been more wrong. T-Mobile has just announced its intentions to bring 5G-Advanced to the US, and the best part is that they say it’ll start rolling out before 2024 comes to a close. That’s a lot sooner than I could have expected. Might it be time for you to start shopping for a phone with 5.5G support?
T-Mobile Is Bringing 5G-Advanced To The US Before The End Of 2024
There’s not a single Android flagship out there that neglects to add 5G to its capabilities (well, beyond a brief period where Huawei was struggling with producing its own 5G-capable chips). For most of us, that’s enough, but network carriers seem to think it’s time for a mid-cycle refresh before 6G eventually comes around for us all. That’s where 5G-Advanced, sometimes called 5.5G, enters the ring.
While 5.5G is already being deployed in limited fashion over in China—which explains why many devices produced in the country rushed to switch on their 5.5G software support earlier this year—there was no news whatsoever regarding similar developments in the US. It didn’t seem like it was coming anytime soon, by all indications.
However, that’s not the case. T-Mobile’s President of Technology mentioned that the carrier plans to deploy 5G-Advanced by the end of 2024. There are only two full months left in the year, so it’s a lot closer than I thought. It’s also a tight timeline for T-Mobile to deliver but that seems fine as there’s essentially no device marketed in the United States that currently supports it. As little as a software update could change that though.
What Makes 5G-Advanced So Special?
You might be wondering why you should care about 5G-Advanced, especially when 5G seems to be fast enough for most. Well, when it comes to the speed of anything digital, I think most people don’t believe in the notion of “too fast”, so there’s essentially no ceiling.
So yes, it comes with much faster speeds, which is great, but along with that, you get much lower latency—that means much less of a delay on video calls, when playing video games online, and with VR applications.
Here Are Some Popular Smartphones Which Currently Support 5G-Advanced
If you want to get ahead of the arrival of 5G-Advanced on T-Mobile’s network, you might be wondering which smartphone you can get to support the standard when it comes. At the moment, I can’t think of a single device marketed in the United States that has publicized its support for 5.5G.
However, since 5.5G is already deployed in limited fashion over in China, you’ve got a few options from that side of the world to fit your needs (though it remains to be seen if they’ll support the same bands).
Devices in the Honor Magic 6 series, the Oppo Find X7 family, and Vivo devices like the X Fold 3, X100 lineup, and iQOO 12, all support 5.5G. They didn’t launch with the capability though, and switched on support through an OTA update. That could be the case for some devices available in the US right now, so we’ll keep our ears open.
