Table of contents:
- Up to 50 times faster than 5G and 10 times lower latency
- Beyond theory: what you can do with the 6G
- This is all very well, but when will 6G arrive?
There are still a few years to go before 5G has just been established in our country. Despite the fact that the new network standard is already available in 20 Spanish cities, the most optimistic forecasts assure that the massive deployment will not become effective until 2022. Meanwhile, technology companies continue to develop what is supposed to be the next mobile network standard, the 6G or sixth generation network.
Although companies like Samsung have already confirmed their participation in the development of 6G, today there are dozens of questions surrounding the new standard. As will be? What differences will it have with respect to 5G? When will it hit the consumer market? Let's see what the expert voices say.
Up to 50 times faster than 5G and 10 times lower latency
In case the speed offered by 5G seems little to us, Samsung has recently assured that its intention is to multiply it by up to 50 times with the arrival of 6G. The peak speeds that 5G supports currently leave us with figures very close to 20 Gbps on a theoretical level. The figure released by the South Korean firm raises this promise to 1,000 Gbps. Yes, you read that correctly, 1,000 Gbps.
To put this figure into context, the most advanced fiber networks in our country only allow us to reach 1 Gbps. In other words, 6G would be 1,000 faster than a conventional fiber network. This on a theoretical level, of course, since the real speed that 5G handles in our country is closer to 1 Gbps than to 20 Gbps. But Samsung's promise doesn't stop there.
As specified by the manufacturer, its intention is to reach a latency of only 100 microseconds, or what is the same, 0.1 milliseconds. Compared to 5G, 6G would have 10 times lower latency, a figure that will end up having an impact on the ping or signal delay and which to this day remains the biggest disadvantage of 4G and mobile networks in general.
Samsung's other great promise has to do with the network's range ratio. The company ensures that 6G will be able to accommodate up to 10 times more devices in a square kilometer than 5G. This will not only help to design more stable networks, it will also influence the total cost of installing 6G-compatible antennas.
By having a higher ratio, telephone operators will not be obliged to install so many antennas to obtain an experience similar to 5G in terms of coverage, speed and latency. Remember that one of the claims of 5G is to make conventional wired networks disappear, such as fiber optics and ADSL. At the end of the day, the cost of installation is much higher than that of a mobile network in use, since not only a general installation is required, but an individualized installation in each home that wants to have an Internet connection.
Beyond theory: what you can do with the 6G
At the point that Samsung intends to reach in absolute terms, the question is mandatory, is that much speed necessary in a mobile network?
Samsung's promise in the field of research speaks to computer vision technologies. According to the company, "machines with multiple cameras will be able to process data at resolutions, speeds, angles and wavelengths that human beings cannot match and that require incalculable bandwidth today."
Car manufacturers are trying to take advantage of this promise and could design autonomous driving systems that are much more efficient and functional. Samsung also ensures that the arrival of the 6G to a commercial plane will allow them to design truly immersive extended realities and quite remote from what virtual reality currently offers.
This statement is surrounded by data that allow us to elucidate the theoretical doubts that may arise in the future. For example, the next-generation XR headphones require a bandwidth of at least 0.44 Gbps to power the 16 million pixel displays that are needed to match the resolution of the human eye. This bandwidth is much higher than what 5G can offer individually, according to the company.
Another of the promises launched by the South Korean manufacturer has to do precisely with mobile phones. The company hopes that by then mobile screens will be capable of displaying real holograms with volume. This feature would demand "high transmission speeds", with a bandwidth of at least 580 Gbps for a screen approximately 6.7 inches in size. If we talk about larger screens and life-size holograms, that is, of human dimensions, Samsung says that it would take several terabits per second, something that today no network is capable of offering.
This is all very well, but when will 6G arrive?
Samsung's estimate tells us that the technology will be ready from 2028. If we take the development of the 5G network as a reference, the technology was not officially launched and approved until 2017. Only a year later it began to be deployed in several countries of Asian origin, although it was not until 2019 when it officially arrived in our country.
With all these data on the table, it is most likely that the 6G network will end up taking off in our country from the year 2031 or 2032 if we start from the basis that the technology will be ready at the latest in 2028. We must not ignore the development of companies like Huawei or Ericsson, two of those responsible for bringing 5G to our country. In fact, Huawei has already confirmed that it is working on the development and research of the 6G network. It remains to be seen if he finally conspires with Samsung to pool development or if, on the contrary, he decides to work the technology individually.
