After upgrading to 4G, which mobile phone has the fastest internet speed?

Of course not Xiaomi phones. Although Lei Jun’s slogan in the past two years was “fever phones”, Xiaomi phones have never been considered feverish in terms of network speed.

When it comes to network speed, the first thing to look at is the network standard. The most advanced commercial data network at present is 4G, including TD-LTE and LTE-FDD. Under the 4G standard, the Cat value (ue-Category) must be looked at. This indicator is the theme of this article. It determines the maximum upper limit of an operator's network speed and the maximum network upper limit of a 4G mobile phone.

We often hear that operators promote their own 4G maximum speeds, and mobile phone manufacturers announce the supported LTE Cat values ​​and maximum speeds. Here are these data:

Cat 11: 600Mbps downstream

Cat 9: 450Mbps downlink

Cat 6: 300Mbps downstream

Cat 4: 150Mbps downstream

Cat 3: 100Mbps downstream

To explain briefly, in the 2G and 3G era, the standards were very stable, and the network speeds were basically in place once or twice, such as 24Mbps and 42Mbps for WCDMA. This is not the case with 4G, which has a progressive approach, and the core technology is called carrier aggregation. The maximum speed of ordinary 4G is 150Mbps, dual-carrier aggregation is up to 300MBps, and triple-carrier aggregation is even higher. Cat is used to describe the speed of this network.

The reason for the incremental approach is that it is difficult to achieve everything in one go. Currently, most mainstream 4G mobile phones only support Cat 3 and Cat 4. The basebands of these 4G mobile phones are highly competitive and cost-effective. China's Spreadtrum, South Korea's Samsung, and the United States' Marvell can all meet the requirements. Flagship 4G mobile phones can support Cat 6. Baseband manufacturers that meet the requirements include HiSilicon, Qualcomm, MediaTek, Intel, etc.

For top-end mobile phones, the highest is Cat 9. As we all know, only Qualcomm has this level, but Intel has recently launched Cat 10 baseband modules. Not long ago at MWC, Qualcomm also announced the next level of support - Cat 11, and the baseband supporting it will be released at the end of this year or early next year.

Currently, the most common phones on the market are Cat 3 and Cat 4, and there are only about 10 models of Cat 6 phones. The world's best mobile phones, iPhone 6/6Plus, only support Cat 4, while Android camp Samsung, LG, Huawei, etc. support Cat 6. In comparison, Cat 9 is even rarer.

On another level, the support of the operator network is not so fast. In China, China Mobile is using Cat 3, China Unicom and China Telecom are using Cat 4. An insider close to China Mobile told Leifeng.com that China Mobile will launch Cat 6 by the end of the year, but it will obviously take some time, and the upgrade process is not easy. Globally, there are not many Cat 6 networks.

Throughout the entire process, the terminal is faster than the operator's network. However, in order to promote it, the operator still has to take action. Only when the operator raises the requirements for warehousing can the downstream terminal manufacturers be driven to upgrade.

And if you buy the latest mobile phone that supports Cat 9 network, it is no exaggeration to say that it will still be the world's top network three years later.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.