If you are from East, West, South or North Africa you might have come across the word 5G been used in a sentence. Although 5G technology is not so popular in the Africa continent because there are yet to be goverment policies to guide its use. But, more 5G phones will launch in Africa in 2021 and you might just be able to afford one.
You see, there are lots of theories about 5G when it comes to it been seen as good or bad. We’ll leave you to decide which side of the debate you are on. However, good or bad more tech companies are jumping in on 5G as the next generation network technology and wether you like it or not you might start using a 5G phone soon.
See Also: GSMA Report: MTN, Vodacom Tested 5G in Africa in 2020
African countries such as Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Uganda, Morocco, Algeria and others buy more of the low budget and midrange devices. In 2020, majority of the 5G enabled phones were flagship which means they were pretty expensive. But, There is going to be a change in 2021.
MediaTek is a chipset manufacturing company that produce chipsets for most low budget and midrange phones. Companies like Infinix, Tecno, OPPO, Vivo, Xiaomi and even Samsung sometimes power their phones with MediaTek SoC.
Qualcomm ois also another chipset manufacturing company and they also have chipset for low budget phones like MediaTek. However, the last quarter of 2020 saw MediaTek overtook Qualcomm to become worlds Number 1 Chipset Supplier. Why? reason because MediaTek produced more affordable 5G chipsets which increased demand for their SoC.
See Also: 5G Network In Nigeria: All You Need To Know As More 5G Phones are Launched
This year, Qualcomm is trying to take back its number 1 spot position and they just released the Snapdragon 480 5G mobile platform which is a n SoC targeted at midrange devices.
With these new developments, phones with 5G might start costing between $200-$350 soon and this will make it more affordable in most Africa countries.
Another reason why more 5G phones will be launched in Africa in 2021 is the fact that most telecom companies in the region started testing 5G. In Nigeria for example, MTN tested 5G in four of its major cities as far back as October 2019.
See Also: MTN 4G Network: MTN 4G Expansion and What it Means for Nigerians
This GSMA Report also stated that Vodacom, MTN tested 5G in Africa in 2020. We also recently saw Nokia brought its 5G phone to Africa. Xiaomi also brought the Xiaomi Mi 10T series which is 5G enabled to Nigeria. And users bought these 5G phones even though the 5G is useless for now.
Where does this leave us? 5G is tested, people are ready to use it, mobile phone manufacturers are ready to produce more affordable 5G phones we are all awaiting the first commercial use of 5G in Africa.
With 5G phones to be powered by more affordable 5G chipset, we can expect to see the launch of more 5G phones in Africa in 2021.
So tell us, will you buy a 5G phone when they launch in your country? How much are you willing to pay to get a 5G phone in your country? Leave your comment in the comment section below.
