- November 5, 2020
- Posted by: Admin
- Category: Mobile App Development
When we talk about the potential of mobile connectivity, the buzzword right now goes to 5G. Valuates Reports’ analysis on 5G technology finds that the global 5G market will reach 58.17 billion USD by 2025, with a year-over-year growth rate of 95.8%. Though it’s still in the early stages of its implementation, 5G is going to transform the mobile industry, from the services telecom providers will offer to the apps that will be developed.
What is 5G?
Most of our current networks are on 4G, and that in of itself isn’t bad. In fact, it can download movies in minutes and steam quality videos. But 5G is another league entirely. According to HP’s discussion on 5G, the network is at least 70 times faster than your average 4G connection. This allows for real-time data transmission whenever and wherever you are. Imagine being able to download a movie in less than a minute. That amount of speed can do wonders for the mobile app market, and we’ll list some of the biggest changes below.
More mixed-reality apps
It’s no secret that mixed reality (XR) software like virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) need a lot of data to function. In our post ‘The Ultimate Guide on the Importance of AR and its Tools’, we emphasized how AR apps are based on image recognition. With so many graphics in play, they tend to need a lot of data to load. This is why most XR games are published on PCs or headsets. But not anymore. USA Today reports that smartphone manufacturers, in collaboration with telecom providers, are working on “XR Viewers” or head-mounted displays that connect to 5G-enabled smartphones. With 5G’s faster speeds, apps can load heavy graphics, opening mobile devices to the full capabilities of XR.
Higher-quality videos
Mobile apps like Facebook and Twitter impose restrictions on video formats so that others will have an easier time loading them. For example, Facebook recommends uploading videos in .mp4 and .mov formats with a fixed frame rate so they are easier to compress. If you don’t, the app will forcefully decrease its quality in a way that it’ll pixelate. With 5G, however, this may no longer be a problem. Again, thanks to the network’s increased speeds, any video should load within seconds. This is great news for mobile marketers as they won’t be restricted to using still images or low-resolution videos for their in-app ads.
Better location accuracy
Smartphones are equipped with a geolocation chip that allows them to be picked up by GPS signals across the globe. This is what mobile apps like Waze and Uber use to find you. While its accuracy is already accepted at the 4G level, you’ll notice that it’ll sometimes miss its mark, especially in congested locations. With 5G, this won’t be a problem. A location study published in the Information and Communications Technology Express Journal notes that 5G’s capacity is much higher due to how fast the signals move in and out of the system, granting every device equal access to the network. This allows mobile apps to pinpoint your location with more accuracy.
The speeds promised by 5G are opening up countless possibilities for the mobile community. Whether you’re a game developer looking to venture into a new genre or a marketer looking to deliver better-quality ads, 5G aims to remove most of the barriers that prevent people from reaching the full potential of mobile apps.
Written by Aliza Alyson Clarke
Exclusive for dxminds.com