Qualcomm establishing 5G ecosystem in China
Qualcomm is establishing a 5G ecosystem with Chinese partners to expand 5G applications to the Internet of Things, electric cars and robot sectors besides smartphones, the company said on Friday.
China has 360 million 5G subscribers with over 700,000 5G base stations, making it the world’s biggest 5G market. Sales of 5G-enabled devices will hit several billion units in the near future, a much bigger market compared with smartphones, the world’s biggest mobile chip designer said.
Along with cloud and AI technologies, 5G has huge market potential and integrates closely with digital economy development worldwide, Meng Pu, Qualcomm China chairman, said during Qualcomm China Tech Day 2021.
At the event, Qualcomm and partners showcased the latest 5G applications for smartphones, electric cars, smart watches, ultra high definition video and virtual reality.
It has partnered with Honor on smartphones and IoT devices, Li Auto on electric cars and OrionStar on service robots.
Meng Pu, Qualcomm China chairman, spoke of 5G's huge market potential.
In the car market, at least 18 manufacturers are expected to adopt 5G-enabled cars by 2023, compared with only two in the 4G era in 2013 and 2014, Meng said.
Honor, a spin-off from Huawei last year, will adopt Qualcomm’s mobile chip platform in its flagship Magic product lines in June, Zhao Ming, the company's presidents, said at the event.
Honor CEO Zhao Ming gives a talk during the event.
Honor recently launched new Honor Play5 models with features such as fast charging, super thin designs and 64-mega-pixel cameras. They will be available in China on Monday at prices from 1,199 yuan (US$184).
Fu Sheng, chairman of OrionStar, expects the robot market to have a greater potential than the booming electric car market, with people needing various AI and 5G services done by robots. The company’s robots are used in restaurants, schools and shopping malls with features such as food delivery and making coffee automatically.
