Two leading Swiss telecoms have started selling 5G smartphones to consumers, joining just a handful of companies in a few countries offering actual 5G phones on live 5G networks.
Sunrise Communications AG has started selling two 5G smartphones, the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G and the Huawei Mate 20 X, and Swisscom has started selling the Reno 5G, by Chinese smartphone maker Oppo.
The Reno 5G by Oppo was the first commercial 5G smartphone on the European market and is now available at Swisscom shops across the country, starting at a price of $980. The smartphone will be made available to additional markets in other regions of the world in the coming months, Oppo said.
Swisscom has had a live 5G network since April and plans to cover Switzerland with 5G by the end of the year, including all cities, countryside and mountain areas, supporting the sub-6 GHz New Radio (NR) frequency band.
The Reno 5G handset features a full panoramic screen, front-facing camera, soft light and back flash and a full-focal length tri-lens rear camera with 10 times hybrid zoom. The phone is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 mobile platform with 8 GB to 256 GB of storage and a 4,065 mAh battery.
The Mi Mix 3 5G smartphone is now available through Sunrise in Switzerland. Source: Sunrise Communications AGSunrise has countered with two 5G smartphones available at Sunrise shops and on its website, becoming the first company to offer two 5G handsets.
Huawei recently became the second-leading smartphone vendor in the market. The Huawei Mate 20 X costs about $980, and features an ultra-wide display for photography and other multimedia entertainment. The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G costs about $830 and is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 mobile platform, with the Snapdragon X50 5G modem with integrated transceiver and RF front-end solution also from Qualcomm.
Sunrise said its 5G network works in more than 150 cities or locations in Switzerland (which the company said represents about 80% of the country’s population). Like Swisscom, Sunrise plans to bring 5G service to all regions in Switzerland by the end of 2019. This will include delivering high-speed networks to urban areas and offering better coverage in rural areas, Sunrise said.
In the last few weeks, two other countries have started offering next-generation cellular wireless smartphones on live 5G networks. Verizon switched on its network in two cities, with the Motorola Moto z3 smartphone equipped with a 5G Moto mod. SK Telecom is offering the new Samsung Galaxy S10 5G to customers in South Korea.
