5G Support Across All Bands Might Increase Smartphone Prices, Says Chinese Companies

Follow Us

5G

The putting in of 5G modems in the smartphones was a big leap for the smartphone manufacturers to make. It goes without saying that the inculcation of 5G capability makes the cost of smartphones skyrocket. This was visible from the price hike done by phone makers on their flagships with the launch of 5G enabled smartphones. However, that is not the only issue, the support of various 5G bands on the smartphone is yet another thing to be taken into consideration. The smartphone manufacturing companies like Realme and OnePlus have played a strategic move by launching devices that support 5G bands especially pertaining to the Indian sector.




OnePlus to Launch Only 5G Phones in India

Navnit Nakra, vice president, chief strategy officer of OnePlus India, told ET Telecom that if they decide to support all 5G bands being globally used across the world, then the smartphone prices will also rise. On these lines, currently, the band which dominates India is the N78 5G band, and hence the OnePlus series 8 and 9 smartphones support the N78 5G band only.

Brands Balance Price and 5G Support

Realme CEO Madhav Sheth has also shed some light on the launches of Realme smartphones and which band they support in India. According to him, Realme is bullish on launching 5G smartphones in the budget segment; as such, the phones offer support to N77 and N78 bands which operate within the 3.2 GHz to 4.2 GHz frequency range. The range of around 3.3 GHz and 3.8 GHz offers a balance between coverage and speed; hence, these bands will be most preferred globally for 5G services. OnePlus, on the other hand, has decided that it will launch 5G smartphones only for Indian markets. Realme also said that it would be aiming to launch a smartphone in the Rs 10,000 marker with 5G capabilities.

An executive from a leading Chinese brand said that the brands take caution while pricing their smartphones, lest they increase the prices unnecessarily. Hence, a lot of smartphone manufacturers, including the likes of Realme, are working in tandem with Indian telecom operators to keep in check which bands are supported in the Indian telecom industry so that they can be supported in smartphones as well.

Indian Telcos Asking for More Band Support

As for the telecom operators, they want the OEMs to support bands like 1800/2100/2300 MHz and sub-GHz bands 800/900 Mhz because the telcos might use Dynamic Spectrum Sharing or spectrum refarming for 5G deployment. Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel have already started the task of 5G field trials.

Reported By

Reporter

Arpit spends his day closely following the telecom and tech industry. A music connoisseur and a night owl, he also takes a deep interest in the Indian technology start-up scene and spends rest of his time spilling poetry and stories on paper.

Recent Comments

Phoenix96 :

What is the SOT u r getting on that? If its 6hrs then nothing has changed.

OnePlus 13 and Xiaomi 15 to Feature Qualcomm Snapdragon 8…

TheAndroidFreak :

Off Topic : Vivo X200 Ultra camera specs. 50MP 35mm (1/1.3"±) Customised Main Unit 50MP Ultra Wide 200MP HP9 (1/1.4")…

OnePlus 13 and Xiaomi 15 to Feature Qualcomm Snapdragon 8…

WIN :

Vi still doesn't have proper software for Volte in Andhra and Karnataka and coverage lag in tech parks

Airtel Deploys 100,000 Massive MIMO 5G Radios With Ericsson

TheAndroidFreak :

- Vodafone Idea's debt reduced from Rs 46.5 billion to Rs 32.5 billion QoQ - Vi added 42,000 4G sites…

Airtel CEO Hints at New Structure for Mobile Tariffs to…

TheAndroidFreak :

Let's see. I haven't used Redmi Turbo 4 yet. But waiting for iQOO Neo 10 Pro actually. I hope its…

OnePlus 13 and Xiaomi 15 to Feature Qualcomm Snapdragon 8…

Load More
Subscribe
Notify of
17 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments