The first smartphones to ship with 5G support were premium devices aimed at early adopters. But 5G will be everywhere soon and eventually it’ll replace the aging 4G networks that cover much of the globe. So it’s not surprising that 5G is coming to mid-range and budget devices.
Now Qualcomm says it’ll launch its first Snapdragon 400 series chips with support for 5G in early 2021.
While Qualcomm doesn’t set the prices on phones that ship with its processors, these chips tend to be aimed at entry-level smartphones, which means we could see 5G phones in the $150 to $300 range early next year.
In a press release, Qualcomm included quotes from executives at Chinese phone makers Oppo and Xiaomi, strongly suggesting that the two companies plan to release devices with the upcoming Snapdragon 4-series 5G Mobile Platform.
Qualcomm hasn’t shared any details about speeds or network support, so it’s unclear if its new chips will support both sub-6GHz and mmWave networks, or just the former.