Samsung's 5G is now 25 times faster than 4G

Samsung has made good progress on its 5G cellular technology, increasing transfer speeds to a whopping 7.5 Gbps from a tad over 1 Gbps in April 2013. To put things into perspective, the next-generation cellular networks are now more than 25 times faster than the fastest 4G (LTE Advanced) networks in use today.

The 7.5 Gbps transfer speed represents a new record for 5G cellular networks; it was achieved during the first successful outdoor test. Samsung says that stable transfer speeds of 1.2 Gbps were registered while traveling at 100 kph (62 mph), which is a more accurate representation of how fast the current 5G technology is in actual practice.

Put differently, at 7.5 Gbps, a 1 GB file would download in a tad over one second, while at 1.2 Gbps a download of a file of the same size would require short of seven seconds to complete.

"Both the stationary and mobile tests were conducted over a 28 GHz 5G network. Until now, the industry as a whole has not used higher frequencies, such as 28 GHz, despite their speed-related benefits, due to the likes of short communication range", explains Samsung. "However, Samsung overcame these obstacles through the company’s own Hybrid Adaptive Array Technology, which uses millimeter wave frequency bands to enable the use of higher frequencies over greater distances. While the 5G standard has yet to be ratified, 5G networks are expected to offer data transmission rates that are tens, if not hundreds, of times greater than 4G LTE".

Today's fastest 4G networks, which are based on the LTE Advanced technology, top out at 300 Mbps for downloads. That is a theoretical maximum for those networks, which is rarely, if ever, achieved in real-life testing. The best that future implementations of 4G LTE Advanced can offer is 3 Gbps for downloads and 1.5 Gbps for uploads, theoretically speaking.

There are, however, few devices which can fully take advantage of 4G LTE Advanced today, among which being Samsung's Galaxy Alpha and Galaxy Note 4. Keep in mind that we are only referring to the implementation which tops out at 300 Mbps, which is even less prevalent than the standard 4G LTE.

Photo Credit:  Krivosheev Vitaly/Shutterstock