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Though 5G remains a somewhat nebulous concept because standards organizations have yet to formally classify it, the successor to LTE is broadly understood to be capable of gigabit speeds that rely on mmWave tech. Because mmWave transmits data at a higher frequency, and thus a smaller wavelength of between 30 GHz and 300 GHz, the technology is capable of reducing latency and expanding data transmission capacity. It also opens up possibilities for cutting down on antenna size and for packing more powerful multi-band antennas into a single device.
AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile have all announced plans to start testing faster versions of 4G LTE that should, in theory, help lay the groundwork for true 5G in the future. On the chip side, Samsung, Qualcomm, and Intel have all announced new hardware to support 5G speeds, while telecom standards organization 3GPP is working to release the first official 5G standards in the second half of 2017 with full-scale tests and deployments slated for 2019.