Remember a time before smartphone when you’d use your old mobile phone for a week or two before plugging it into the charger? Now imagine your current smartphone lasting the same. Or maybe double the same. Sound crazy? Lowell McAdam begs to differ. The Verizon CEO, during a tech conference, mentioned that the upcoming 5G technology will bring a drastic change to the battery life of smartphones in the future owing to lower latency.
To explain this, 5G networks won’t just be able to achieve crazy high speeds while downloading like what we’re used to getting on the current 4G networks but will also add value points with its low Latency scores. Low latency means users will be able to connect to crowded towers with ease such that the latency will drop down to a mere 1ms from 100ms in 5G.
If you’re wondering what this will do, here’s a clue. With lower latency, the computing power of a smartphone moves to stressing more on the mobile EDGE instead of on-device, from where all your battery is currently drained in abundance. What this means to the device, you ask? This power shift will lead to thinner devices in the future which will also make room for enormous battery life.
According to McAdam, the fast and seamless streaming of data will take our smartphones to shift its computing power to the edges of the network, making them thin and light and have longer endurance on a single charge. The statement was lauded as by far the most optimistic prediction for 5G from a CCs Insight analyst and the same could set worryingly high expectations.
But is any of this possible? Several reports suggest, in theory, less drain will be forced on a smartphone ‘cause of lesser computing. That with the addition of better connectivity on a crowded network could certainly play a factor in devising the battery standards for the upcoming devices on 5G. But keeping in mind 5G will only release sometime next year, chances are that it’ll take a few years for the theory to kick in since network providers will only be using single bands to migrate to 5G during its early course.
Verizon is currently spending close to $18 billion in future technologies which include the development of 5G, augmented reality and connected cars. The American service provider is already ahead in conducting trials for 5G and promises to launch the first 5G-enabled device as a mobile router. For 5G to be integrated, the earliest we can expect the technology on could be Qualcomm’s X24 Modem or Samsung’s Galaxy S10 but we’re still miles out for that to happen.