5G technology promises higher peak data speeds, very low latency and greater reliability. With the current crop of 5G-enabled phones hovering above $500, the extension of 5G to Qualcomm’s 4-series SoC could pave the way for smartphones priced in the $125-to-$250 range.

The Snapdragon 480 chipset incorporates an X51 modem that supports mmWave and below-6-GHz bandwidths, which ensures compatibility with nearly all 5G networks available today. 5G is not available everywhere, but users in regions offering the technology will see download speeds of 2.5 Gbps and upload speeds up to 660 Mbps.

Qualcomm says the new 400-series processor will offer key improvements over the previous generation. The Snapdragon 480 should double the speed performance of its predecessor, the Snapdragon 460. Qualcomm credits its 8-nm manufacturing process, along with new CPU and GPU elements for the improvement. Qualcomm says AI tasks will see a 70% improvement over the previous generation.

It will also offer 64-megapixel images and the capacity to capture photos from each of three onboard cameras simultaneously. Three 720p videos can also be captured at the same time.

Other features of the 480 include Bluetooth 5.1 and adoption of Charge 4+ standard that will offer better charging-speeds in new phones.

The announcement of manufacturers using the new processor will be made in the coming months. Vivo, Oppo, Xiaomi, Motorola and Nokia are expected to be among the early adopters.

In a statement released Monday, Kedar Kondap, vice president, product management at Qualcomm Technologies, said, “Qualcomm Technologies continues to accelerate 5G commercialization globally to make 5G smartphones more accessible, especially as people worldwide continue to connect remotely. The Snapdragon 480 5G Mobile Platform will exceed OEM’s and consumer’s expectations in delivering high- and mid-tier features at an affordable price.”

Qualcomm led the introduction of 5G technology with a series of platforms introduced early last year. Those platforms included the Snapdragon 854, 765, 750G and 690. Its new flagship Snapdragon 888 is due to be unveiled later this month.

Today’s announcement is just the opening salvo of what promises to be a year filled with improved and innovative features in a tech filed expanding at an explosive pace. According to Review 42, a website devoted to tech enthusiasts, there are 5.11 billion mobile phone users globally tapping, swiping and clicking their phones an average of 2,617 times a day. Worldwide, they say, more people own cellphones than toothbrushes, and they check those phones more than 50 times a day.

In addition to faster and cheaper 5G smartphones in 2021, the new year also promises devices with faster displays, with refresh rates up to 120Hz and 144Hz; under-display cameras to avoid the unsightly lens bumps populating so many phones today; higher resolution video, up to 8K video capture; and more AR and VR functionality.

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Intelligence-sharing at risk?

Trade deal complications?

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Analysts say the move is as much a show of solidarity with Beijing against the US as it is a drive to bring ultra high-speed internet to Russian tech users.

This month, Huawei opened its first 5G test zone in Moscow in partnership Russian operator MTS, with a view to rolling out the service to the rest of the capital.

Moscow authorities say the network will become part of the city’s normal infrastructure within the next few years.

A pioneer in telecoms networks compared to many Western countries, Russia plans to deploy 5G in all of its main cities by 2024.

When Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Russia in June—at the height of Washington’s conflict with Huawei—Russia’s main operator MTS signed a contract with the Chinese company.

‘We live well in Russia’

At the inauguration of the 5G zone in Moscow, the CEO of Russia’s branch of Huawei Zhao Lei praised the company’s activities in the country.

“We have been working in Russia for 22 years. Thanks to our partners, we live well here,” he said.

He added that Huawei, considered a world leader in 5G technology, plans to “lead in the development of 6G” in the future.

Huawei is also the world’s second-largest smartphone company. It did not respond to AFP’s interview requests.

A source in Russia’s 5G research community said Huawei is the biggest investor in the development of mobile technologies in Russia, with “the largest research laboratory of all operators” in Moscow.

According to the Vedomosti business daily, Huawei currently employs 400 people in Moscow and 150 in Saint Petersburg in mobile research and development. It aims to employ 500 more people by the end of 2019 and 1,000 more over five years.

Experts said Russia’s welcome of Huawei does not mean the Chinese company is alone in the race for developing 5G in Russia.

“Russian operators are all collaborating with multiple 5G equipment vendors, Huawei included. We do not see any clear 5G leaders in the network deployment in Russia,” said Michela Landoni, an analyst at Fitch Solutions.

She said operators prefer this approach to avoid being “reliant on one specific vendor” and to protect themselves against cyber threats.

The Tele2 operator was the first to launch 5G in Russia with Sweden’s Ericsson in August, on Moscow’s main Tverskaya street.

‘Economic front’

In the midst of a trade war and technological rivalry with China, the US has threatened to cut Huawei’s access to the US components and services it needs, such as the Android operating system that the company uses on its phones.

Russia then promptly stepped in to offer its Aurora operating system to the Chinese group.

If Android remains Huawei’s preferred choice, Landoni said Aurora could be a “short-term solution” for the group.

According to the analyst, Aurora could become a “stepping stone” in the development for Huawei’s own OS.

According to Sylvain Chevallier, a partner at the technology consulting firm BearingPoint, the aim is “to create an economic front against the US.”

Russia and China, he said, are trying to break away from the US monopoly over smartphone operating systems.

As for the espionage risks Washington has warned of, Russia is hardly worried.

While using foreign mobile equipment risks foreign government accessing data, for Russia there is “no big difference” if it is Huawei, Ericsson or another company, said Evgeny Khorov, the head of the Wireless Network Lab at Russia’s Academy of Sciences.

“Many people use Android phones whose system is designed by Google. Does this mean that Google has access to all the data? Yes, of course,” he said.

“So what’s the difference between Huawei and Google in this case?”

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The move would put the UK at odds with the US, which has been pressing other nations to ban use of the Chinese firm’s kit on security grounds.

It could also cause tensions with Australia, which last year blocked its networks from using Huawei’s 5G gear.

The country also barred another Chinese firm, ZTE.

While Theresa May is reportedly willing to give Huawei the green light, this would not mean the prime minister’s cyber-advisers have disregarded the threat of a future Chinese cyber-attack.

That concern still preoccupies many security officials’ minds, since much of our critical infrastructure – from power stations to automated transport – is likely to be dependent on the next-generation communications technology.

Rather, there is a belief that restricting Huawei’s equipment to certain parts of the UK’s network means that the risk can be managed.

At the heart of the matter, there seems to be a critical disagreement: Canberra and Washington believe that there are fundamental differences between 5G and 4G, which mean an outright ban is the wiser choice.

To make sense of all this, it is worth exploring first why Australia came to its conclusion.

But it is worth saying up front that, for its part, Huawei has denied it would ever compromise a client’s network because it had been ordered to do so by Beijing.

It has said that it has been “targeted by a sustained campaign of ill-informed accusations that its involvement in 5G infrastructure somehow poses a threat”.

Why did Australia ban Huawei?

Australia concluded in August that it was impossible to “mitigate” the national security risks involved in allowing Huawei to form any part of its 5G network, because next-generation networks would operate in a different way to their predecessors.

The reason for this, it added, was that the relationship between two distinct bits of the network would change.

The first part – “the core” – it said was where the “most sensitive functions occur”, including device authentication, voice and data-routing and billing.

The second – “the edge” – referred to equipment including antennae and base stations that is used to capture the radio signals emitted by wireless devices and send them into the core.

The key phrase in a ministerial statement then explained: “The distinction between the core and the edge will disappear over time.”

One of the country’s spy chiefs, Mike Burgess, later expanded on this, saying that as 5G technologies matured, the expectation was that the distinction between the edge and core “collapses” because “sensitive functions” would begin to move outside of the protected part.

Part of the reason for this, he explained, would be to take advantage of the lower latencies 5G offers – the lag between issuing a command and getting a response. This, for example, could help make it safe to direct surgical robots or remote-controlled vehicles from afar.

But, Mr Burgess added, the consequences could be dire if the 5G kit was then compromised and used to mount an attack.

“Elements of the power grid may not work, water supply [and] sewage pumps may not work – it has the potential to impact our country greatly,” explained the director general of the Australian Signals Directorate.

And Huawei was considered a company that could be “subject to extrajudicial directions from a foreign government that conflict with Australian law”.

In other words, the fear was that it could be compelled to facilitate a Beijing-mounted cyber-attack.

So why would the UK want to use Huawei?

The Australians’ argument never convinced many senior figures involved in the UK’s telecoms industry.

While they accept there are issues with using Huawei’s kit in the core, they believe it would still be relatively safe to use its radio access network (Ran) equipment – which allows individual devices to wirelessly connect to mobile data networks via radio signals transmitted over the airwaves.

Huawei’s Ran gear is seen to be more advanced than that of its competitors – Nokia and Ericsson – at doing things like maximising the amount of data that can be handled at once. The Chinese firm also has a reputation for being more willing to provide customised solutions.

But critically, there is also a belief that there is no reason for the distinction between the core and Ran to disappear over time, so long as the networks involved continue to respect standards that define a border between the two.

“One of the key features of 5G is the ability to… distribute [the core] more broadly across the overall network infrastructure,” explained Vodafone UK’s chief technology officer Scott Petty.

“However, that core network is still protected from the radio base stations by security gateways and capabilities.”

There has, however, been some reluctance to openly contradict the Australians.

When BBC Panorama spoke to the technical director of GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre earlier this year, he sought to suggest both views could be right.

“From a purely technical point of view, geography matters in 5G,” Dr Ian Levy explained.

“Because you have these very, very quick turnaround communications, you are limited about where certain things can physically be – limited by the speed of light.

“UK and Australia have very different geographies – so our laydowns will be very different to Australia’s laydowns. So, we may have exactly the same technical understanding, but come to very different conclusions.”

How does the US come into this?

Washington has been leading the campaign against Huawei, both in terms of making the case about the supposed security threat it poses, but also pursuing legal cases alleging the firm has engaged in systemic intellectual property theft and fraud – claims that Huawei denies.

Earlier this month, one of President Trump’s top cyber-security officials made it clear that the US believes it is not safe to use Huawei kit in any part of a 5G network.

“We view there to be no relevant distinction between the core and the edge of a 5G network,” said the US State Department’s Ambassador Robert Strayer.

“That distinction had existed in 4G networks because you basically had a smart core – where the intelligence and the software ran – and the edge was dumb, because it was just for the transmission of data to the core.

“In a 5G network, much of the smart computing capacity… will move to the edge.”

When the BBC asked him whether geographic differences might mean this would not be an issue for the UK, he made clear this was not a consideration.

“Due to the configuration of 5G networks with computing at the edge and reliance on those networks for the provision of critical services, untrusted equipment should not be allowed in any part of the network,” he answered.

What might the consequences be for this split?

The UK, Australia and US are three members of an intelligence-sharing pact called the Five Eyes alliance.

The other two members are New Zealand – which has also barred one of its networks from using Huawei’s 5G equipment while it continues to evaluates the risks involved – and Canada, which is still on the fence.

A decision by the UK to allow at least partial use of Huawei’s kit could encourage New Zealand and Canada to do likewise, as well as sending a wider signal out to other countries that there is no reason for an outright ban.

But Washington has warned there could be repercussions.

“It would be very difficult for the United States to share information the way that we have in the past if we are having to rely on unsecure networks,” Mr Strayer told the BBC.

“[As Secretary of State] Pompeo has said – if the risk exceeds the threshold for the United States, we simply won’t be able to share that information any longer.”

Some experts are not convinced, however, that the US would really stop sharing intelligence.

“I am surprised at some of the rhetoric from the US,” commented Prof Alan Woodward, from Surrey University.

“If sensitive information is being passed across any public network, you have to assume someone is attempting to intercept it. Hence, you layer on your own security to a level appropriate to the sensitivity of the data being transmitted.

“The greater concern with 5G is the potential for disruption of the network, not necessarily espionage.”

A formal UK decision on Huawei is still not expected until after the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport shares the results of its own review into the matter with the country’s National Security Council.

In the meantime, Huawei is not taking anything for granted.

“We welcome reports that the UK government is moving towards allowing Huawei to help build the UK’s 5G networks,” said a spokesman for the firm.

“While we await a formal government announcement, we will continue to work co-operatively with the government, Ofcom and the industry and their evidence-based approach to network security.”

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Countries are racing to build 5G networks that will be crucial for future tech such as driverless cars.

Nations are also working to resolve security concerns tied to the networks.

What is 5G?

5G is the fifth-generation of mobile internet connectivity. Users will get more data faster, with less delay. It also promises wider coverage and more stable connections.

Ed Barton, chief television and entertainment analyst at Ovum, said the shift from today’s 4G networks to 5G will be significant.

He said first-generation or 1G networks enabled voice, 2G brought text, 3G static images or photos, and 4G enabled video.

“We’re expecting the leap from 4G to 5G to be a much greater leap than ever before.”

Part of the “leap” will come from the ability to move much greater volumes of data across networks. 5G will mean more devices can be connected to the network at better speeds.

Nikhil Batra, senior research manager at technology consultancy IDC Asia Pacific, said speeds will be 10 times faster than what is possible with 4G. Samsung said its 5G device will be up to 20 times faster.

What will 5G enable?

Initially, 5G will bring higher-quality streaming and the ability to livestream to bigger audiences – a better experience for people watching live sports or cloud gaming.

Ovum’s Mr Barton said down the track it will enable more augmented reality capabilities, such as better mapping apps and shopping experiences. 5G will be crucial for driverless cars.

The scope of possibilities is vast, from remote surgery to holographic video calls. Mr Barton said we don’t yet know what the “killer apps and use cases will be”.

“It’s a bit like no one predicted that ubiquitous smartphones with payments and location awareness would give rise to Uber,” he said.

Where is it available?

The technology is being piloted in trials all over the world but commercial applications are just becoming available.

South Korea’s top three mobile carriers launched 5G services this week, while US telco Verizon also launched 5G services in parts of two cities this week.

DJ Koh, president of IT & mobile communications at Samsung Electronics said it has begun “a new era where the incredible speed and connectivity of 5G becomes a reality”.

Frost & Sullivan telecoms analyst Quah Mei Lee says South Korea and Japan have been leaders in 5G development. She said South Korea has always been strong in consumer applications but there’s “more than it can do” in 5G.

“We will see more applications coming to the market over the next three-to-six months.”

What about security concerns?

Much discussion about 5G infrastructure has centred around possible security risks, namely the participation of China’s Huawei.

Huawei, the world’s largest maker of telecoms equipment, has faced resistance from foreign governments over the risk that its technology could be used for espionage.

The US, Australia and New Zealand have all blocked local firms from using Huawei gear in 5G networks.

In principle, controlling the technology that sits at the heart of vital communications networks gives an operator like Huawei the capacity to conduct espionage or disrupt communications.

This becomes a bigger problem as more things – from autonomous vehicles to domestic appliances – become connected to the internet.

The US argues Huawei could use malicious software updates to spy on those using 5G, pointing to a Chinese law that says organisations must “support, co-operate with and collaborate in national intelligence work”.

Additionally, IDC’s Mr Batra said one of the fundamental differences between 4G and 5G networks is the ability for remote control which raises “potential security concerns”.

Mr Batra said with 4G, software and hardware were very tightly coupled. In 5G networks, hardware is separated from the software.

“That allows for remote control… of the network assets. All of these things can be managed virtually, and that makes it challenging in terms of security.”

Still, he said authorities around the world are working with operators to address these concerns and “we haven’t really seen any hard proof in terms of what is the issue”.

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America’s fight with Huawei is messing with the world’s 5G plans

The intelligence agency is playing an important role in a broader UK government review examining the security of technology that operators plan to use in 5G networks in the country.

“The review is looking at a range of options and will conclude in the spring. No decisions have been taken and any suggestion to the contrary is inaccurate,” the Department of Culture, Media and Sport said in a statement Monday.

A spokesperson for Huawei said Monday that the company advocates an open dialogue on security.

“Cybersecurity is an issue which needs to be addressed across the whole industry,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “We remain focused on working with our customers to help them deliver world leading technology.”

A potential rift for the Five Eyes?

If the UK government decides that Huawei equipment can be used for 5G, it’s likely to strain relations with Washington.

The United Kingdom is part of a close intelligence-sharing alliance with the United States known as Five Eyes, which also includes Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The approval of Huawei technology by one member of the group would undercut the American offensive against the company.

The US is stepping up pressure on Europe to ditch Huawei

Vice President Mike Pence said Saturday that the United States has been “very clear” with its security partners about the threat posed by Huawei and other Chinese telecoms companies.

“We must protect our critical telecom infrastructure, and America is calling on all our security partners to be vigilant and to reject any enterprise that would compromise the integrity of our communications technology or our national security systems,” Pence told attendees at the Munich Security Conference.

New 5G networks are set to increase the speed of wireless internet on smartphones, and allow larger numbers of internet-enabled devices to communicate with each other more efficiently. That could advance plans for things like smart cities in which connected cars can communicate with traffic systems.

A British government oversight panel that monitors Huawei’s activities in the United Kingdom warned last year that it can provide only “limited assurance” that the company’s telecoms equipment poses no threat to national security.

The supervisory panel also said that “technical issues” had been identified in Huawei’s engineering processes, leading to “new risks in the UK telecommunications networks.”

Huawei has responded by promising to invest $2 billion to address those concerns through improvements in its software engineering capabilities. The company said in a recent letter to UK lawmakers that it could take as long as five years before the upgrade shows “tangible results.”

UK could influence others

How Huawei fares in the United Kingdom could influence decisions by other governments that have stepped up scrutiny of the company’s products, such as Germany.

UK telecoms CEO: We’ve seen no ’cause for concern’ over Huawei

BT Group (BT), which runs one of the top UK mobile operators, said in December that it would not use Huawei equipment in the heart of its 5G network, which launches this year in 16 UK cities. The company said at the time that it would keep Huawei as an “important equipment provider outside the core network,” using its equipment in areas that are considered “benign,” such as masts or towers.

In an interview with CNN Business earlier this month, a top BT executive said the company has seen no evidence that Huawei technology poses a security risk.

“Over the years that we’ve worked with Huawei, we’ve not yet seen anything that gives us cause for concern,” said Marc Allera, the CEO of BT’s consumer brands.

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