On the stroke of midnight, as we rang in 2019, Huawei announced the P smart 2019 and as a result, they had the first smartphone announcement of the year. Yesterday, Huawei announced another first as their new folding phone, the Mate X, became the world’s first certified 5G phone.
Whether or not folding phones are the next big thing, is still up for debate, but the Mate X is nothing short or a beautiful phone. Samsung’s Galaxy Fold, while cheaper, appears to be an unusual design misfire, while the Mate X looks sublime.
Coupled with the design innovation, Huawei has now confirmed that the Mate X is teh world’s first certified 5G handset.
5G certification is carried about by TÜV Rheinland, the same crowd behind that CE certification that devices must pass to be eligible for sale within the EU.
The Huawei Mate X utilises a Balong 5000 chipset. This single chip supports a broad spectrum including 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G meaning the addition of 5G to your new smartphone won’t mean it needs to be bigger at all. While refusing to compromise on design, the Balong 5000 chip also doesn’t skimp on performance with the chip being the first to achieve an industry-wide 5G benchmark of 4.6Gbps.
Basically, it’s really fast.
The Mate X is going to be an absolute beast and it might very well be the reason I come around to the idea of folding phones.
Watch this space.
When Will 5G Launch in Ireland?
You can expect to see 5G arrive in Ireland later this year. Both Vodafone and Three have been public in outlining their hopes to support this new mobile spectrum. Exact dates haven’t been confirmed though, so again – watch this space too.
