If you believe those rumors about 5G mobile phones, you will lose!

Here’s what you need to know about the 5G frequency band battle.

Entering 2020, mobile phone manufacturers have suddenly accelerated their promotion of 5G mobile phones for commercial use. In December 2019 alone, leading manufacturers released 5G mobile phones one after another, showing their accumulation of strength for 2020.

According to statistics from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, after the commercial launch of 5G, mobile phone shipments in the domestic market have also grown rapidly. From January to October, a total of 3.281 million 5G mobile phones were shipped, while from January to December, a total of 13.769 million 5G mobile phones were shipped, accounting for 3.5% of the total market volume.

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But it is also because of the 5G era that China is at the forefront of the world. Many technical terms about 5G mobile phones have become new and unknown to the public. From the early debate between NSA (non-standalone networking) and SA (standalone networking) to the frequency band selection of N41, N78 and N79, it has affected the market purchasing sentiment.

"Rumor!" A technical expert from a leading mobile phone manufacturer said to 21Tech without hesitation. This is in response to a recent rumor in the market about mobile phones supporting 5G frequency bands. A statistical table circulated in the market clearly pointed out that among the current mainstream 5G mobile phones, those that can support the above three frequency bands are considered "standard 5G mobile phones", and others that cannot support all three are called "early adopters of 5G mobile phones", claiming that supporting "dual-mode (NSA and SA) tri-band (N41, N78, N79)" is the minimum standard for Chinese 5G mobile phones in 2020.

Although the table clearly lists the frequency bands supported by operators and other information, the expert pointed out that many rumors on the market about the N79 frequency band are not accurate and should not be believed.

1. What are N41, N78 and N79?

Let’s first popularize what the three frequency bands here are.

• N41, N78 and N79 are the three frequency bands currently supported by the four major domestic operators.
• N78 is the frequency band obtained by China Unicom and China Telecom, which is around 3.5GHz.
• N79 is the frequency band obtained by China Mobile and China Broadcasting Corporation, which is around 4.8-4.9GHz;
• N41 is the frequency band mainly controlled by China Mobile, which ranges around 2.5GHz.

From the numerical values, we can roughly see that different frequency bands are applicable to slightly different communication scenarios. IDC analyst Wang Xi explained to 21Tech, "If the frequency of the frequency band is high, the wavelength will be relatively short, resulting in relatively weaker coverage and obstacle penetration capabilities compared to low-frequency bands. Therefore, the coverage of the N79 band within a certain (physical) range is narrower than that of other bands, and currently there are no widely available base stations supporting the N79 band. Once it is opened in the future, it may be used on industry-specific networks, at least for now it has no impact on ordinary users."

Xie Yushan, an analyst at TrendForce, said that the construction cost of the N79 frequency band is relatively high, which is why it cannot be operated in the short term. This frequency band does not necessarily have to be used in the consumer market in the future, but can also be used for private networks.

The aforementioned technical expert also explained to 21Tech that the mainstream 5G frequency bands currently used by operators for commercial purposes are N41 and N78. As long as the mobile phones support these two frequency bands, they can use the 5G network normally. In addition, the N41 and N78 frequency bands have mature technologies, wide penetration capabilities and coverage, and are the mainstream civilian 5G frequency bands in China; N79 is not as good as N41 in bandwidth, penetration and coverage, and is suitable for special industrial scenarios and places. "Currently, there are no large-scale base stations that support N79, so even if the mobile phones do not support the N79 frequency band, it will not affect the speed of using 5G network."

2. Will not affect the use of 5G mobile phones

Under the premise that it still takes time to build the infrastructure, it is not difficult to understand why the current 5G mobile phones commercially available in China are not required to match the N79 frequency band first.

But why don't mobile phone manufacturers support all these frequency bands at once? In addition to the practicality mentioned above, it is also related to cost.

Xie Yushan pointed out to 21Tech that the overall cost of 5G mobile phones has increased compared to 4G, and the part with the largest cost increase is the RF component. Adding one more frequency band will increase the cost.

"The wireless communication module is mainly divided into three parts: the RF front-end module (RFFEM), the RF transceiver module, and the baseband signal processor. Among them, the RF front-end module mainly allows signals to be sent and received at different frequencies, and mainly includes components such as power amplifier (PA), duplexer, RF switch, filter, and low noise amplifier (LNA). "She further explained that the number of mobile phone frequency bands continues to increase, and the number of PAs also increases. The number of PA chips required for 4G multi-mode and multi-frequency mobile phones is between 5-7; the number of PAs in 5G mobile phones will be as many as 15-18. The more frequency bands supported, the higher the cost, so in the short term, not all frequency bands will be adapted.

Currently, China Mobile's own-brand 5G mobile phone "Pioneer X1" is not equipped with the N79 frequency band, which in a sense explains the problem.

Wang Xi pointed out that this has nothing to do with whether it is a China Mobile brand. As an operator, China Mobile's mobile phones actually need to be assembled and produced by mobile phone manufacturers. Since the X1 uses Qualcomm's X50 baseband chip solution, it actually supports the world's mainstream 5G commercial frequency bands. Whether it is equipped with components that support the corresponding frequency band is the result of the independent decision of the mobile phone manufacturer.

"Adding an adapted frequency band will increase the cost by a few dollars. Not adapting all of them is to some extent related to cost control." He pointed out that in the short term, not being compatible with the N79 frequency band will not actually affect users.

Wang Xi concluded that in fact, the solutions launched by upstream 5G baseband chip manufacturers including Qualcomm, Huawei, Samsung, MediaTek, etc. all support the N79 frequency band. As for when the corresponding frequency band will be supported, it depends on the strategy of the mobile phone manufacturers.

As to whether the N79 frequency band will bring about differences in usage in the future, it depends on whether the N79 frequency band is opened for civilian use and what scenarios it is suitable for.

Xie Yushan further pointed out that when choosing frequency bands to support, mobile phone manufacturers will make fine adjustments based on the 5G frequency bands of various countries and focus on the main global frequency bands, thereby reducing the complexity of global roaming of mobile phone terminals. As for the Internet speed and the experience of other 5G applications, it also involves the deployment density of base stations.

"The overall frequency band of 5G is based on medium and low frequencies, supplemented by high frequencies. The frequency band is the channel used to transmit data. Different frequency bands are channels of different lines and have nothing to do with transmission capacity." She continued.

3. Conclusion: 5G mobile phone rumors should be stopped

Even so, some people will still raise questions: China Broadcasting Corporation, as one of the 5G operators, has won the N79 frequency band, so not supporting N79 means not supporting full-network 5G mobile phones.

For this reason, the aforementioned technical expert pointed out to 21Tech that "there is currently no real full network access for 5G. The N41 and N78 frequency bands are the mainstream 5G frequency bands in China. The 5G network laid in the United States is millimeter wave. 5G mobile phones will choose local 5G frequency bands according to different countries. 5G is backward compatible with 4G. 5G mobile phones bought in China can also enjoy 4G networks normally in the United States. In addition, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China has not mandatory requirements that current 5G commercial mobile phones must support the N79 frequency band."

According to Wang Xi, among the major 5G markets in the world, China, Japan, South Korea, the United States and major Western European countries generally support frequency bands in the 3.3-4.2GHz range, while other countries and regions such as Central and Eastern Europe and India have not yet finalized.

In terms of frequency band range, there may be certain differences with the domestic Chinese market. However, based on the premise that the underlying chips generally support mainstream communication frequency bands, the technical requirements for further matching by mobile phone manufacturers are actually not difficult.

It should be pointed out that along with the rapid development of 5G, there are also waves of "rumors" that have been subsequently disproven, from the early debates on "real and fake 5G" caused by NSA and SA to the current disputes over frequency band support.

Regardless of where the source of the dispute comes from, the 5G mobile phones that have been officially approved by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to be connected to the network essentially do not have performance issues such as incompatibility. These 5G mobile phones entering the market are also being exported to the world at the same time. When consumers face these disputes, they must be cautious not to be led astray.