5G smartphones don’t need to support every band there is. This is because it would increase the overall cost of the smartphone, which at the end of the day, consumers will have to bear. It is a classic case of ‘beware what you wish for’ as a consumer. The number of 5G smartphones in the market is rising, and with that, there are a lot of people wondering whether they got the right 5G device that supports all the frequency bands.
Bharti Airtel wants the smartphone manufacturers to launch smartphones that support all the frequency bands. This is because the telcos can repurpose the currently used spectrum for 4G services for 5G.
Most Smartphones in the Indian Market Support N78 Band
Most of the popular smartphones in the market support the N78 band, which means they are good to connect with airwaves in the 3.5 GHz band. This is a mid-band spectrum, and it will be heavily used by the telecom operators to launch 5G services in different parts of India.
There are very few smartphones in the market that support mmWave frequencies connectivity, and that is not a worry at all. mmWave 5G isn’t going to be launched for normal consumers anytime soon anyway. The Indian Telcos would be focusing on 5G heavily with the airwaves in the 3.5 GHz band along with 2300 MHz band, 900 MHz band, 1800 MHz band, 2100 MHz band, and 800 MHz bands.
This time around, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) might also introduce airwaves in the 600 MHz band, which will be very crucial for the telcos to provide extended coverage and strong network support in multiple parts of India.
The thing is, smartphone users, don’t need to worry much about which bands their 5G devices can support right now. The smartphone manufacturers have had close communication with the telcos regarding their 5G and are planning the launch of their devices accordingly.
