Chinese tech giant Xiaomi has entered the fray to roll out a 5.5G upgrade on its smartphones. Also called 5G Advanced, the technology is an enhanced evolution of 5G and delivers higher throughput capacity and overall better network performance.
According to Digital Chatting Station, Xiaomi is preparing a 5.5G upgrade via an OTA update. This does hold water as other domestic competitors OPPO and vivo are also geared up to introduce the next-generation 5.5G connectivity on their smartphones. To illustrate further, China Mobile, China’s leading telecom operator has announced the 5G Advanced technology. Likewise, it’s a confirmation that the OPPO Find X7 Ultra smartphones will be the first-ever device to support the 5.5G connectivity. Additionally, the telco has also tested the speed of the enhanced 5G network on the Xiaomi 14 Ultra which delivered 5,312 Mbps speeds.
The 5G phones are already marked for their exceptional capacity of faster data rates. The 5.5G support is going to elevate their abilities to the next level.
Also read: Huawei Working on 5.5G, Better Variant of 5G Standard
The era of 5.5G smartphones is upon us
As of now, 5.5G has been much more in the talks than in practicality. We are talking about the number of devices that could support it. But it’s also due to the OEMs disabling the network due to the carriers not having launched it. If you were not aware, it is a general practice. Vendors also lock 5G on their smartphones in regions where the network is not available. But as of late, at least three smartphone brands including Xiaomi, vivo, and OPPO have ventured into issuing phones with 5.5G support.
This is enabled by the chipsets. Most devices with either the flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 or the MediaTek Dimensity 9300 are capable of supporting 5.5G. Therefore, an OTA update from a telco would unlock the support on the eligible devices.
Compared to 5G, 5.5G offers 10x more speeds up to 10 Gbps for download and 1 Gbps for upload. In terms of its overall network capacities, the 5.5G sits fittingly between 5G and 6G wireless communications.
