Last week, China Mobile announced the official launch of 5G-Advanced (also known as 5.5G) – the next step in mobile connectivity that promises improvements in speed, latency, and stability over regular 5G. Oppo quickly announced its plans to bring 5G-Advanced (5GA aka 5.5G) to its Find X7 series, and now fellow BBK Group member vivo is also set to join the ranks.
The vivo X Fold3, X Fold 3 Pro, and the X100 series will be among the first devices to get 5.5G with an OTA update later this month. The iQOO 12 series and iQOO Neo 9 series are also scheduled to receive 5.5G support.
vivo X Fold3 and X100 series will be among the first devices to support 5.5G connectivity
An image of a vivo X100 running on China Mobile’s 5.5G network appeared on Weibo with download speeds of 3619.19Mbps and upload speeds of 160.75Mbps. These 5.5G network speed tests are certainly impressive, but they are only a fraction of the theoretical speeds supported by the standard.
vivo X100 Pro runs on China Mobile’s 5.5G network
5G-Advanced is rated at up to 10 Gbps downlink and 1 Gbps uplink speeds. China Mobile’s press release also mentioned millisecond latency and improved network stability.
3GPP Release 18 details, also known as 5G-Advanced
5G-Advanced is still undergoing testing in China and is currently operational in a limited number of cities. China Mobile plans to roll out the network to more than 300 cities by the end of the year, covering the massive metropolitan areas of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.