Qualcomm Announce 5G Pilot Project Joint with Chinese Manufacturers

Qualcomm hosted the 2018 Qualcomm China Technology and Cooperation Summit in Beijing, during which Qualcomm and leading Chinese manufacturers jointly announced a 5G pilot program. Qualcomm said it is willing to support the smart mobile phone industry in China in the 5G era. Meanwhile, commercial terminals satisfying the 5G NR standard are expected to come online as early as 2019. Executives from Lenovo, OPPO, Vivo, Xiaomi, ZTE and Wing Tech, as well as Qualcomm President Cristiano Amon, said at the summit they would work together on the plan. The companies are aiming to speed up the rollout of 5G terminals for commercial use as early as 2019.

Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf, Qualcomm chairman Cristiano Amon, Lenovo chairman and CEO Yang Yuanqing, OPPO CEO Chen Mingyong, Vivo CEO Shen Hui, Xiaomi co-founder and CEO Lin Bin, ZTE terminal division general manager Cheng Lixin and Wing Tech chairman Zhang Xuezheng jointly launched the 5G pilot.

Through the 5G pilot program, Qualcomm hopes to provide Chinese manufacturers with top 5G commercial terminal platforms, technical expertise and industry leading semiconductor solutions. Qualcomm and leading Chinese manufacturers will not only explore new mobile applications and experiences from 5G, but also will focus on other revolutionary technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of things (IoT), to continue to advance technology and the industry.

“5G will bring a huge new opportunities for the mobile industry, and we are very excited to work together on the 5G pilot project,” said Qualcomm President Cristiano Amon, “Qualcomm is working closely with China’s mobile and semiconductor industries, and as we move from the 3G and 4G era to the 5G era, we will continue to work with the entire industry chain to promote innovation.”

Lenovo Chairman and CEO Yang Yuanqing

Lenovo chairman and CEO Yang Yuanqing said, “As soon as the global communication industry began to develop the 5G standard, Lenovo began to research and accumulate 5G technology and worked on production. We have close collaborated with Qualcomm in these two aspects. By working together, we hope to promote the intelligence of personal life and work. And enable intelligent transformation of all trades and professions.”

Lin Bin, co-founder and president of Xiaomi, said, “We are happy to work closely with Qualcomm. Xiaomi has released several generations of smartphones with Qualcomm Snapdragon mobile processors. As 5G brings new opportunities for Xiaomi, we will continue exploring and innovating science and technology, building high quality smartphones for global users and bringing our products to users in more countries and regions.”

“We are very pleased and honored to be involved in the 5G pilot project,” said Cheng Lixin, general manager of ZTE terminal business division. ZTE has the leading edge in 5G research and development. Last year, it was the first in the world to release a gigabit mobile phone in MWC2017, which supported download speeds of up to 1Gbps. ZTE is committed to becoming a leading supplier of 5G commercial equipment and solutions and plans to launch the product in 2019. We will continue to step up the layout in the global market and strengthen our manufacturing and branding of high-end smartphone products.”

At the summit, executives from China’s mobile technology companies discussed the latest developments and future of the mobile industry.

This article originally appeared in Sina Tech and was translated by Pandaily.