What is 5.5G? How is it better than 5G?

While many countries around the world are still struggling to complete the widespread deployment of 5G connectivity on a large scale, China has quickly become a pioneer in the next advancement achieved with wireless network technology. China Mobile, one of China's largest telecommunications enterprises, recently announced the launch of the world's first commercial 5.5G mobile network platform.

But what exactly is 5.5G and how does it differ from standard 5G networks? This brief article has everything you need to know about 5.5G.

What is 5.5G? How is it better than 5G?

Simply put, 5.5G is an enhanced version of the 5G network, also known as 5G-Advanced or 5GA.

( You may not know: Today's popular 4G LTE network is an enhanced version of 4G connection, with better speed and latency. 4G LTE is also known as 4.5G or 4G-Advanced. 4.5G is Similarly, 5.5G also uses standard 5G networks, but the improvements it brings in terms of latency and speed are very significant.

5.5G network promises to bring a series of major upgrades compared to standard 5G networks. Typically, it can provide download speeds of up to 10Gbps and upload speeds of up to 1Gbps.

Although in theory, the performance of 5G networks is almost more than enough to meet the daily needs of mobile device users in general. However, 5G has generally not yet made a strong impact in the industrial sector, where applications need lower latency, upload speeds, strong security, reliable performance, low power consumption lower, along with countless other requirements.

5.5G can bridge the gaps of 5G, and will serve as an important link in the progress towards 6G. So when will 5.5G be popularized?

5.5G deployment and supported devices

China Mobile is the first network operator in the world to announce the deployment of 5.5G. The 5.5G network will cover more than 300 cities by the end of this year. The Chinese telecommunications giant plans to bring 5.5G network coverage to more than 300 cities by the end of this year.

As of now, no other telecommunications company has announced plans to deploy 5.5G. We'll have to wait and see when this technology starts appearing outside of China. Notably, AT&T Chairman Chris Samber expressed excitement for 5.5G a few months ago, but whether the new technology can be deployed in the United States soon is still a big question mark.

While it's too early to say whether all 5G smartphones will support 5.5G, one thing's for sure: not everyone needs a new phone. OPPO's product manager, Pete Lau, recently posted a teaser showing the OPPO Find X7 Ultra flagship model displaying '5GA' in the status bar. It is likely that OPPO Find X7 will become the first phone in the world to support 5.5G network.

Find X7 Ultra uses Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, similar to Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, OnePlus 12 and Xiaomi 14. In addition, Vivo X100 Pro and OPPO Find 5.5G support. That means most Android flagships on the market are now capable of supporting 5.5G, it's just a matter of whether manufacturers are interested or not.