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Image: Inside Creative House/Getty Images Although 5G connectivity is still by no means universally available, even in developed parts of the world, planning and research for the next generation, 6G, is already underway.
Smartphone innovation never stops. Discover the biggest trends in mobile devices in 2023 and what it all means for you.
Read nowEach mobile network generation consolidates the use cases offered by the preceding one and introduces new capabilities, on a roughly 10-year cycle. So 2G (1990) introduced digital voice calls and text messaging (SMS); 3G (2000) added mobile web browsing on smartphones; 4G (2010) brought faster data speeds, enabling mobile video; and 5G (2020) is bringing even faster mobile broadband with lower latency, enabling use cases such as the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), digital twins, autonomous vehicles, smart homes, buildings, cities and farms, and remote healthcare.
6G is the next mobile network generation after 5G -- and more specifically, after a stepping-stone called 5G Advanced, which is built on the 3GPP's Release 18 standard. Release 18 is expected to be finalised in mid-2024, with device and network support for 5G Advanced likely to become available during 2025.
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5G Advanced "will include major enhancements in the areas of AI and extended reality (XR) that will enable highly intelligent network solutions that can support a wider variety of use cases than ever before," says 5G Americas.
What about 6G? According to Nokia: "Literally, every single improvement in network connectivity that 5G will bring to the end-user will get further perfected with 6G. Whether it's smart cities, farms or factories, and robotics, 6G will take it to the next level."
If 6G development proceeds in line with the historical 10-year cadence, we can expect to see the first commercial networks around 2030 -- perhaps earlier in parts of the world that were quick to deploy 5G networks, such as Asia.
At the upcoming Mobile World Congress 2023, an annual opportunity to take the temperature of the mobile world, a key theme is '5G Acceleration'. But already, 6G is making its presence felt in sessions entitled 'Ready to talk 6G?' and 'Spectrum: delivering a 6G Future'.
Expect to hear a lot more about 6G as requirements and standards are developed, frequency bands (up to terahertz level) are defined and allocated, the (increasingly open) Radio Access Network (RAN) is built out, AI-powered core networks are deployed, and devices with 6G support are brought to market.
Peak theoretical data rates for 5G, as defined by the ITU's IMT-2020 requirements, are up to 20Gbps down and up to 10Gbps up, with 'user experienced' rates coming in at 100Mbps down and 50Mbps up, latencies between 1 millisecond (URLLC) and 4ms (eMBB), and connection densities up to a million devices per square kilometer (mMTC).
Although the requirements for 6G (IMT-2030) are yet to be finalized, theoretical downlink data rates could go as high as one terabit per second (1Tbps, or 1000Gbps), with latency measured in microseconds. If 6G gets anywhere near these numbers in practice, it will enable a much wider and more performant range of use cases than 5G.
6G performance (expected) versus 5G
| Metric | 5G | 6G |
| Peak data rate | 20Gbps | 1Tbps |
| Experience data rate | 100Mbps | 1Gbps |
| Maximum bandwidth | 1GHz | 100GHz |
| Connection density | 1 million devices/square km | 10 million devices/square km |
| Latency | 1ms | 100
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